AC Exclusive:
David Pleasance on U.K. Management Buyout.
Your Original AMIGA Monthly Resource
3SH
i*3«>.4aS£
jM|MHW|
■Km
H££
taS
I.
I
In This Issue:
•Toccata
•Studio 16 3.0
&AD516 Board
•Amiga Oberon-2
•Take 2
•Instancing with Aladdin-4D
•A 2D Animation Project
•Panorama 3.0
•Snow Words & Ni
and much more!
Hollywood generates
computer images on a
shoestring — Amiga style.
H'l
• *Q *1
ers
Pll'-ftf
■
''74<,70"7471d"
9
09
he . .
ssential
election
("Tofp quality guidance for Amiga users" )
AH books are written
and produced in
Great Britain.
Bruce Smith Books
&£&
- ^
sums
12
-
V
- r
i
is:
AMOS is one of the most exciting
and accessible programming envi-
ronments en the Amiga. Phil South
fully explains the fundamentals and
the skilllul shortcuts to great pro-
grams, with lots of example code to
experiment with and develop your
own programs with. Covers all ver-
sions of Amos including AMOS.
Easy AMOS and AMOS
Professional.
Mastering Amiga Amos
Phil South. 320 pages. S26.00. ISBN: 1-S73308-12-4
Want to team Assembly language but
don't know your IntuiMessage from
your NvB terminated string! Then the
Amiga Assembler insider Guide is for
you! With easy-to-follow examples
and ■nstructions it explains and
demystifies the jargon. Applicable to
all Amigas. it comes with a free disk
which includes the PD A68k assem-
bler and programs from the book-
Amiga Assembler Insider Guide
Paul Overaa, 256 pages, $23.00. ISBN: 1 -873308-27-2
This book teaches you to use and
care for all types of disks and drives
in order to minimise the risk of
problems, get a better understand-
ing of how they work and what to
do if things go wrong. Topics
include installing software, copying
and moving files, encryption and
secunty, disk repair and back-up,
formatting and fast filing, floppy.
Had. Ram and CD's.
Amiga Disks and Drives
Paul Overaa, 256 pages. S23.00. tSBM: 1 -873308-34-5
The Amiga's operating system has
proved a major obstacle to assem-
bt/ language programmers, but this
book is guaranteed to get the seri-
ous Amiga owner into the world of
63000 assembly language pro-
gramming. It assumes some experi-
ence of high-level languages such
as BASIC. Skeleton programs are
provided for the beginner to follow
and develop.
Mastering Amiga Assembler
Paul Overaa. 416 pages, S29.00, ISBN: 1 -873308-1 1 -6
Perhaps the most comprehensive
introductory tutorial ever written
about the Amiga's operating sys-
tem in a massive 384 pages. If you
want to learn about AmigaDOS 2.
2.1 or 3 then this is the book for
you. It assumes you know nothing
about the subject but - if you follow
the step by step exercises - will
turn you into an AmigaDOS expert.
Mastering AmigaDOS 3 - Tutorial
Smith & Smiddy, 384 pages, S27.00, ISBN: 1-873308-20-5
Written with the sole aim ol getting
you through those soul-searching
first months with your Amiga, it
doesn't promise to make you an
expert in any one topic but will give
you the essential foundation stones
from which you can progress. Step
b/ step advice on specific subjects
is balanced with general advice on
ail major subjects relevant to the
-"" '-"-■
Mastering Amiga Beginners
Smith & Webb, 320 pages, S26.00, ISBN: 1-873308-17-5
If you want to take over your Amiga
then you need to understand and
program the Amiga System itself.
book is an introductory guide
to just that. Assuming a base
knowledge of C but explaining all
new System concepts, it teaches
you how to handle tasks and
processes, work with libraries,
incorporate IFF graphics and much,
much more.
Mastering Amiga System
Paul Overaa. 400 pages $29.00, ISBN: 1-873308-06-X
This is the full reference guide to the
AmigaDOS command set with
complete coverage of over 140
AmigaDOS 2. 2.1 and 3 com-
mands. Arranged alphabetically, it
includes many worked examples
with full eemmand synopsis and
templates. Contains details on the
Mounllisl, AmigaDOS Error Codes,
AmigaGuide, the IFF, Commodities,
and much more.
Mastering AmigaDOS3 - Reference
Smith 4 Smiddy, 368 pages, $27.00, ISBN: 1-873308-08-6
The ARexx programming language
is assured a bright future as part of
Workbench 2 and 3. No harder to
learn than BASIC the examples and
listings supplied will teach you
ARexx from scratch. A complete
. .. - v - ■■ understanding of the application
,\ " I — —— control advantages of this powerful
K~~ language can be yours with ease.
Also applicable to Workbench 1.2
and 1.3 users.
Mastering Amiga ARexx
Paul Overaa, 336 pages $27.00, ISBN: 1-873308-13-2
I
>.„ m«^l
Amazing Specification and Outstanding Value!
That's the Amiga A1200 Beginners Pack!
Now, for the very first time, you can get the complete beginners package in one bumper-value
pack. Sure to be the best seller, the Amiga A 1200 Eeginners Pack includes the best-seftng Amiga
A 1200 Insider Guide, Amiga A 1200 Next Steps Insider Guide plus an exclusive 1 -hour high-quality
video tape on A1200 basics from Wall Street Video. This special value pack also includes four
disks of essential PD and Shareware software with specially written book to help get you going.
Programs include an easy-to-use database, a wordprocessor. a music editor, a file recovery/virus
checker/disk compression package and clip-art selection.
Amiga A1200 Beginners Pack
S49.00 ISBN: 1-873308-30-2
CREDIT CARD HOTLINE
(800) 345-3360
To order, send checks made payable to 'Pirn Publications Inc'.
PO Box 21 40. Fall River, MA 02722
Name
Address
City Stale Zip..
All checks must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank.
Orders sent FIPS/UPS. (No PO Boxes please)
APO/FPO sent U.S. mail.
Please rush me the following books:
..@ S..
,.e s..
Shipping & Handling (No. of books XS3.00) = S_
Total
Or charge my Discover/Visa/Mastercard No.
Signed ... Expiration Date: / /..
"One of the best products of 1993!"
MicroTimes magazine
ImageFX 1.5
ImagcFX-EGS
/:%
J ^JJLJM«I»I**I nl"^!.-*!"!* -£==M[ ...i
t ,'.."" ! ,"?££. | i:T-.v.'i! 1.'.'.-" ! ^"-H ' .„! " ""'.""
r
i
When your image i
ImageFX is the fastest, easiest to use, most powerful
image processing package you can buy for your Amiga.
Whether you're looking to scan images, paint with artistic
flair, convert images from other computer platforms,
create stunning, motion picture-quality animation, or
produce amazing special effects, ImageFX is the one
package that can do it; the one package that has it all,
ImageFX, as always, includes the world's most popular full
motion morphing program, CineMorph. And, as a special
limited-time bonus, ImagcFX-EGS is included free!
When your image is on the line, use the best. Get ImageFX.
AM Trademarks held by their respective owners.
Art courtesy of Corinna Conn, Rusty Mills & Mike Vunck.
lova Design, Inc., 1910 Byrd Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230
>aler Sales: (804)282-5868 • Support: (804)282-6528 • Fax: (804)282-3768
Circle 104 on Reader Service card.
IL
WGA
Toccata 2.0, p. 13
jjjjgg, RpTAMrF
"' p.' J^ni^i
Amiga Oberon-2, p.19
Snow Words and Nimble Numbers,
p.17
Studio 16 3.0 & AD516 Board, p.27
Aladdin-4D: Tutorial #9, p.30
ill Tills) j£)£)My
13 Toccata
by Douglas Nakakihara
Toccata a new 16-bit sound board for
(he Amiga manufactured by
MacroSystems is given the once over.
Snow Words and Nimble
Numbers
by Eric Nixon
Two good, old-fashion learning experi-
ences for spelling and math.
Amiga Oberon-2
by Michael Griebling
A review of the latest object-oriented
language from Nicholas Wirth who
also brought us Modula-2 and Pascal.
22 Take 2
by Shamms Mortier
A look at Take 2, a special kind of edit
decision list processor (EDLP) for ani-
mation producers created by Rombo
Productions.
24 A 2D Animation Project
by Shamms Mortier
How the concept of ANIMbrushes in
DPaint helped to produce an animation
project.
Studio 16 3.0 &AD51 6 Board
by Shamms Mortier
Great interface design and clarity set
this software and hardware combina-
tion apart from the rest.
30 Aladdin-4D: Tutorial #9
by Shamms Mortier
Some of the new features of A4d 3.0
particularly Instancing and CSpline
variations are covered in this continu-
ing Aladdin-4D tutorial.
Volume 9
Number 9
September 1994
33 Panorama 3.0
by Shamms Mortier
A review of Panorama 3.0 which offers
a whole bucket of new alternatives in
Amiga scene generators and anima-
tion engines.
80 A C Exclusive
Commodore's U.K. General Manager,
David Pleasance, shares his thoughts
and hopes on his management buyout
attempt for Commodore and the
Amiga.
Iririitureis
Digital Image Special F/X
by William Frawley
Create exciting styles of text with
Professional Draw, Pagestream,
OpalPaini ADPro, and ImageFX.
65 Online
by Rob Hays
On line games like Air Warrior,
RSCards, NTN Trivia, Federation II
and Orb Wars are examined in this
month's Online.
ragonworld
p.55
Digital Image Special FIX, p.46
Inside ARexx. p. 42
Diversions, p.74
Columns
New Products &
Other Neat Stuff
Battle Chess, The Lost Vikings,
Impossible Mission 2025, Insight
Dinosaurs, Bump W Burn, HiSoft
BASIC 2, MaxonMagic, Address It!
v1.5, Multilayer, Amiga Air & Space
Software, MediaEditor 3.9.8, round out
the items found in this issue's New
Products.
Cli directory
by Keith Cameron
Several readers have written in to
share some of their tricks in
customizing the Shell window.
Bug Bytes
by John Steiner
ARexx and Mathieeedoubbas.lib;
Amiga print problems with Okidata
printers; SetPatch tips; Workbench 3.0
monitor drivers; More A3000 questions
are among the topics discussed in this
months Bug Bytes.
42 Inside ARexx
by Merrill Callaway
Using ARexx DO Loops to solve
combinatorial problems.
Roomers
by The Bandito
The Bandito discusses the CBM
turmoil and the Amiga's future-Where
we get upset and join in.
74 Diversions
This month: Jurassic Park horn Ocean
Software Ltd. hopes to give gamers a
taste of the hair-raising action and
suspense of the film. Tornado from
Digital Integration Ltd is a blockbuster
flight simulator for the Amiga. Zool2,
from Gremlin Graphics Carver House,
place Zool, his girlfriend Zooz, and his
two headed dog Zoon against Krool.
Diversions, p.74
L) h pHj?ini^f i ; i!i
Editorial 6
AC pays its respects to Jay Miner
the founding father of Amiga
technology.
List of Advertisers 72
Feedback 60
ragonworld
TT!
*
Unlike other low-budget computer
graphic image companies, Full Moon
Entertainment, the producers of
Dragonworld, are trying to accomplish
everything at film resolution.
Aw ike 24-Bil
Gtapkic wnfa mbbw% bmmikmq^
UfeTkwfeSciH
The TALON
Nc>\a/ Main Objectives
»v<:w Lowest Cost
Price Video Option
Retargetable Graphics
FCC Approved
Paint Program
Zorro II 4IU
6U-Bit Display Controller
t^l ultimonito r 5uppo rt
50240 W Pontiac Trail
Wlxom, Michigan 48393
.higan 48393 jj^ £^g] C
(810)960-8750 i^ fAl*U4^
0)960-8751 ,& I.^KPflJ>
1)960-8752 ¥\ight iU
Tech Support (8 1 0) 960-8750
Saies (810)960-8751
• Fax (8 10) 960-8752
Circle 125 on Header Service card.
MOVING?
Keep your Amazing Computing Issues coming!
Update your address toll-free in the United States or Canada by calling
1-800-345-3360.
Orsend your old and new address to: AC, PiM Publications, Inc.
P.O. Box 2140,
River, MA 02722.
Amazing Amiga
Amazing Computing
i'<»- The Commodore AMIGA ' M
ADMINISTRATION
Publisher:
Assistant Publisher:
Administrative Asst.:
Circulation Manager:
Asst. Circulation:
Traffic Manager:
Production Manager:
Joyce Hicks
Robert J. Hicks
Donna Viveiros
Doris Gamble
Traci Desmarais
Robert Gamble
Ernest P. Viveiros
EDITORIAL
Managing Editor:
Hardware Editor:
Video Consultant:
Art Consultant:
Illustrator:
Contributing Editor:
Contributing Editor:
Don Hicks
Ernest P. Viveiros Sr.
Oran Sands
Perry Kivolowitz
Brian Fox
Merrill Callaway
Shamms Mortier
ADVERTISING
Coordinator: Donna Viveiros
Coordinator: Traci Desmarais
AMAZING AUTHORS
Keith Cameron Randy Finch
William Frawley
Jeff James
Dan Weiss
Rob Hays
John Steiner
Henning Vahlenkamp
The Bandito
1-508-678-4200, 1-800-345-3360
FAX1-508-67S-6002
Amozing Computing Fof The Commodore Amiga'"*
(ISSN 1 053-4547) Is published monthly by PiM Publica-
tions. Inc.. Currant Road, P.O. Bax2140. Fall River. MA
02722-2140, Phone 1-503-678-4200, 1-800-345-3360, and
FAX 1-508 675-6002.
U.S. subscription rate is $29.95 far one year. Subscriptions
outside the U.S. are as fallows: Canada & Mexico S38. 95
(US, tends) one year only; Foreign Surface S49.97 All
payments must be in US. funds on a U.S. bank. Due to
enotic postal changes, all foreign rates are one-year
only.
Second-Class Postage paid at Fall River. MA 02722 and
additional mailing offices,
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PiM Publications
Inc.P.O. BOX2140. Fall River, MA 02722-2140. Printed in
the U.S.A. Entire contents copyrights 1994 by PiM Pub-
lications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publica-
tion may be reproduced without written permission from
PiM Publications, Inc..
Additional First Class or Air Mail rates available upon
request- PiM Publications, Inc. maintains the right to
refuse any advertising
PiM Publicationslnc, rsnotobligated to return unsolicited
materials. All requested returns must be received with a
self-addressed stamped mailer.
Send article submissions in both manuscript ond disk
foimat with your name, address, telephone, and Social
Security Number on each to the Associate Editor. Re-
quests for Author's Guides should be directed to the
address listed above,
AMIGA'* is o regisfered trademark of
Commodore- Amiga. Inc.,
Commodore Business Machines. Internationa!
Amazing Computing s
Distributared in the US & Canoda by
International Pericecal Distributors
674 Via do to vale, 3te 204, Solona Beach, CA 92075
&
Ingram Periodicals Inc.
1226 He! Quaker Blvd.. La Verne TN 37086
Printed in U.S.A.
Amazing Computing
$19.95 buys you hundreds of
megabytes of great software
for your Amiga
Amiga Library Services and Fred Fish offer you
the best compilation of freely redistributable
software money can buy!
Introducing FreshFish™,
FrozenFish™, and GoldFish™
from Amiga Library Services
(ALS). This unique CD-ROM
series offers Amiga users
hundreds of megabytes of
the very latest in freely
redistributable software,
FreshFish CD's, published
six times a year, are com-
pilations of over 100 Mb
of the newest material
available in both BBS ready
(archived) and ready-to-run
(unarehived) form. Also
included are over 200 Mb of
the latest ready-to-run CXI* soft-
ware (EMACS. C/C++ compiler,
text processing utilities, etc.) with full
source code included and up to .100 Mb of
other useful utilities, games, libraries, doeu
mentation and hardware/software reviews.
GoldFish. a two-disc CD-ROM set, contains the
entire original 1,000 floppy-disk library creat-
ed by ALS founder Fred Fish. This compilation
of "Fish Disks" contains the entire library
in both BBS ready and ready-to-run
forms.
FrozenFish, offered on a bi-
annual basis, contains the
entire 1.000 floppy "Fish
Disk" library in BBS ready
(archived) form only. Also
included arc over 200 Mb
of material from previous-
ly released FreshFish
discs.
NEW RELEASE: als is
lappy to announce that it
is now an authorized dis-
tributor of the "new"
AMINET™ CD's, These CD's,
produced quarterly starting in
the summer of 1994, arc archived
compilations of the most recent mater-
ial available on the Internet. Each disc will
contain thousands of programs, demos, sound
files, games, images, programming tools, etc.
I YES! I want to take advantage of this great offer! Please ship me the following:
I □ FreshFish a FrozenFish □ GoldFish r - ) AMINET rh1 Gold
l Buy any single CD for $19.95 • Buy any 2 CD's for $35.95
' Buy any 3 CD's for $49.95 • Buy all 4 CD's for $59.95
CALL TO ORDER
FAX TO ORDER
I G 1 year subscription to FreshFish (6 CD's) for $89.95
j f-J 1 year subscription to AMINE! (4 CD's) for $59.95
I Shipping & Handling: $3,95 for each shipment up to 4 CD's • SI 2.95 for 1 year subscriptions
I
I Payment: H VISA H MasterCard DC0.D. □ Check or Money Order (U\S.)~J FED-X2nd-Day Delivery add Si 2.95 (U.S. only)
I Card Number: Exp.: Signature:
1.602.917.0917
Name:.
Address:-
I Add
! City,
1
ress;-
State:
Zip Code:.
.Country:.
MAIl ORDERS TO: Amiga Library Services • 610 N. Alma School Road • Suite 18 • Chandler, AZ 85224-3687 • USA
Circle 11 6 on Reader Service card.
\
\ EDITORIAL COM
Jay Miner
The Amiga has lost its most
important founding father
f
The news was not reported over the wire
sen-ices, across the front pages of major
newspapers, or attached to the end of televi-
sion news broadcasts. The information was
passed solemnly by lelep hone a nd then, even
more fittingly, by a network of electronic
bulletin boards. The man who had conceived
and created the Amiga had died. Jay Miner,
at the age of 62, died on June 20, 1994 due to
complications from kidney failure.
Most of us, myself included, never re-
alized the full extent of Jay C. Miner's impact
on the computer industrv. The following is
an obituary supplied bv lav Miner's bride of
42 years, Caroline Miner.
Jay G. Miner 1932-1994
Jay G. Miner was born in Prescott, Ari-
zona, on May 31, 1932 and raised in South-
em California. He served three years in the
Coast Guard on the East Coast during the
Korean War. He graduated from the Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley, in 1958 with
a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Mr. Miner's career started soon after-
wards, and his resume reads like a history of
Silicon Valley. He loved start-ups, and his
enthusiasm and gentle leadership were a
source of inspiration for all who knew him.
Mr. Miner was best know as the devel-
oper of the Amiga computer, a machine
embodying in 19S4 many of (he multimedia,
graphics and multi-tasking concepts only
now becoming common in personal com-
puters. His wide talents embraced projects
including heart defibrillators, the chips in
many Atari video games, and some ot the
first digital voltmeters and calculators.
His interests were many and varied,
but his love of boating was predominant.
He is survived by Caroline, his wife of
more than 42 years, and by his two nieces,
Linda Heisig of Holt, California, and Robin
Beers of San Diego, California.
A memorial service was held on J lily 23
at the Palo Alto Unitarian Universalis!
Church in Palo Alto, California.
From The San Jose Mercury News
Mark Lundstrum of the Sjii lose Aim my
Neil's (July 22, 1994) wrote, "For the Atari he
developed the Video Computer system
(VCS), which put its games in millions of
homes, and then he went to work on the
design for the Atari 400 and 800 computers.
He put his touch on the chip that is central to
the Ventritex implantable cardiac
defibrillator that can be programmed exter-
nally."
Mr, Lundstrum discussed jav Miner's
and AmigaCorp. co-founder, David Morse's,
most notable achievement " The A miga com-
puter, which in the early '80s produced color
graphics that only today are becoming com-
monplace in PCs, created a community of
avid adherents. It was Mr. Miner's dream to
design a low-cost machine that could run
several programs simultaneouslv, handle
video and do it all in color. An Amiga did
that for less than S1300 (a basic model sold
for S750). When Commodore acquired
Amiga in 1984, the legion of Amiga loyalists
thought the world would beat a path to the
better-mousetrap door, ft didn't happen.
The Amiga languished."
An Incredible Life
A good many of the people I talked to,
when discussing Jav Miner, acknowledge
the peculiar coincidence that Jav Miner was
alive to see Commodore stumble and fall.
Most wonder if he believed the Amiga won Id
ever gain the prominence he had originally
designed for it. Their questions prompted
me to remember another incredible life.
in the early 70s, PBS ran a series on the
life of Leonardo da Vinci. Through several
episodes they chronicled the great man's life
from his childhood to his death. They de-
scribed his masterful inventions, his won-
drous discoveries, his probing mind, and his
valuable contribution as a fine artist.
In one episode they discussed a dis-
agreement he had with a young upstart art-
ist, Michelangelo. Apparently both men had
discovered a use fora long abandoned piece
of marble. When both rose to claim it, the
affair went to the courts. Leonardo was de-
feated in his bid for the stone and
Michelangelo went on to create his statue-
David from it.
This defeat set the stage for the wav
Leonardo could have viewed his life. At the
time of his death, his greatest works were
being passed <u ei b\ the works of younger
artists. His masterpiece, The Last Supper,
was beginning to fade. Many of his notes
were either lost or forgotten. Most of his
inventions were never built or utilized. In
the end, he was living as a guest on the
goodwill of patrons.
Leonardo da Vinci's greatest accom-
plishments were not realized within his time.
His contribution to the Renaissance or even
the Renaissance itself was unknown when
he died. Yet today, all of us consider da
Vinci's work as exceptional.
Jay's Legacy
Jay Miner's contribution to the Atari
VCS, Atari 400 and 800 computers, and the
Amiga are documented above. For main-
people, it was Jay's work that supplied us
with our first touch of affordable consumer
computing. His work at Atari opened the
door for millions of people to experience
what a computer was capable of doing.
At Amiga Corp., he refined that vision
ami created a computer (while most of the
companies' executives believed he was build-
ing .i game machine) that revolutionized tin-
way the market looked at computer capa-
bilities. While he did not coin the phrase
"Multimedia," he did create the system that
first made the concept possible and, in the
process, blasted a wake-up call tocompeting
computer platforms.
Unfortunately, Jay never saw either
Atari or Commodore continue the advan-
tage lie helped to create. But neither Jay's
memory nor the viability of the Amiga will
pass easily. Bidding continues on the Amiga
even at this writing and Jay's vision still
directs many in both hard ware and software
development. We owe a great deal to Mr.
Mirier and his work. Who knows, several
years from now, maybe PBS will discover
(he true story and do another series on an
incredible life.
Don Hicks
Managing Editor
Amazixg Computing
Strength in Numbers
GVP is the best Solution
On any Amiga
Great Valley Products has been the technological leader in Amiga peripheral and
enhancement products since 1988. We consistently provide you with the best quality
add-ons for the Amiga computer... bar none!
EGS 28/24 SPECTRUM™ Go Beyond AGA Graphics
with this real-time, 24-bit, true-color graphics
enhancement card, Programmable resolutions up to
1600x1280! 800x600 in 24-bit!
We include a custom display
pass-through cable (or single-
monitor use. Many applications are rcady-to-run and
we include the acclaimed EGS Paint as a bonus too!
Bring workstation graphic power to your Amiga today
and see what you've been missing!
CIRCLE 328 ON READER SERVICE CARD
TBCPIllS™ This professional quality, all digital time-
base-corrector (TBC) uses state-of-the-art 8-bit 4:2:2
video signal processing,.. Plus it provides a real-time
vrdeo frame-grabber and 16.7 million color frame-buffer
...Plus there is a full SMPTE/EBU time-code
receiver/generator... Plus this incredible product will
transcode composite and Y/'C inputs... Plus a „ „ ,,-
3 channel video input switcher [in composite I'll II I
and Y/C| ...Plus programmable video
special effects! flint
CIRCLE 330 ON READER SERVICE CARD -/-
Performance Series II'" At 50Mhz, you can own the
fastest A 1200 in the world! Add up to 32MB of high-
speed 32-bit RAM, today! With the added power of a
50Mhz FPU, your floating point operations have never
been speedier. A simple cannecrion in the A120Q's 'trap-
door' never voids a warranty, and with the Series II you
have the added versatility of our custom option slot.
Add the fastest SCSI interface on any A 1 200 with the
A llll SCSI Kit. It just plugs in from the back. Other
expansion products coming soon!
CIRCLE 331 ON READER SERVICE CARD
ImageFX Totally Integrated Image Processing. This is
the only Image Processing package you will ever need.
Period. This is the professional solution that brings you
not only interchange between various image formats
such as TIF and GIF and TARGA, but also a full-featured
24-bit, real-time paint and touch-up program. See the
work you are doing while you do it! Edge feathering,
Alpha channel, CMY/HSV/YUV/YIQ operarions, inte-
grated scanning, regionalized processing.., It's in there!
CIRCLE 332 ON HEADER SERVICE CARD
G-Lock'" Bring live video, audio and Amiga graphics
together and do it on any Amiga! Get connected with the
world of video with our built-in transcoder to convert
input video to composite, Y/C, RGB or YUV outputs! Full
support for AGA systems as well as the 'classic' Amiga 500,
2000 and 3000. Acclaimed interface controls make this
easy to use and simple to control. Scala" users even get an
EX module to use G-Lock in their multimedia applications.
Add G-Lock's included dual-input audio panel and it's
simply the best choice for every personal Amiga owner.
CIRCLE 333 ON READER SERVICE CARD
IV-24™ 2.D — The Ultimate Genlock This is what you
- have been searching for in a professional quality genlock
for your Amiga 2000, 3000 or 4000. This integrated hard-
ware design provides the crispest, cleanest genlocked video
on the Amiga desktop. With options for RGB, composite,
SVHS, lietacam and M-ll compatible inputs is. outputs
as well as a 24-bit, 16.7 million color frame-buffer and
real-time framegrahber/digitizer, this is fie Amiga
genlock every professional needs, Powerful included
software completes this picture as the Ultimate Genlock.
CIRCLE 33d ON REAPER SERVICE CARD
G-Force '030 Combo"
GVP's classic Combo card accelerates your Amiga 2000
to new heights! This integrated design slips into the
processor option slot in your system and instantly pro-
vides dramatic performance improvements. Easily add
up to 16MB of fast .12-bit RAM. Gain expansion and
versatility with our powerful SCSI II interface, allowing
you to connect up to 7 devices such as hard drives,
SyQuest removables or CD-ROM drives.
Feel the power of G-Force today!
CIRCLE 335 ON READER SERVICE CARD
G-Fcrce '040/33 Combo
The classic Combo taken to the Ultimate Extreme!
Your applications will blaze with the awesome power of a
33Mhz 68040 processor. Give that muscle some room to
flex with room for up to 64MB of fast 32-bit RAM. Of
course our award'Winning SCSI II interface is integrated
(or maximum performance and we include the bonus of
ioExtender capability with an extra parallel port and a
buffered high-speed serial port. Hot "toast" served here!
CIRCLE 333 ON READER SERVICE CARD
4008 SCSI II"
Bring the world of SCSI within your reach with this
easy-to-install board. Instantly gain access to thousands
of peripherals such as hard drives, SyQuest removable
media and CD-ROMs, Add up to 7 devices ro your Amiga
4000 and smile. As a leader in Amiga peripheral technology
since 1988, we still maintain support for A2000 owners
too, even providing SMB of RAM expansion on the card.
Advanced surface-mount technology allows any user to
mount a 3.5" drive directly to the card, providing for
maximum convenience. Get the GVP SCSI difference!
CIRCLE 337 ON READER SEHVICE CARD
ioExtender"
Feeling trapped- Let GVP extend your horizons with
our easy-to-use ioExtender. Contained on a single card,
you will find an additional parallel port, allowing you to
connect a printer and a digitizer (such as DSSS^-l at the
same lime. No more messy, unreliable switch boxes! We
include two, that's right, two high-speed, FIFO buffered
serial ports. No more dropped data or bogged-down com-
puters when transferring data via modem (at speeds in
excess of 57,600! I. Free your pons and regain performance
on your Amiga with ioExtender!
CIRCLE 336 ON READER SERVICE CARD
'* PhonePak VFX™ 2.0
If you are calling for VoiceMail Press 1 .
If you would like ro send a Fax, Press 2.
If you would like to have this automated, scheduled,
time/date stamped and call you when you have new" mail,
get PhonePak VFX 2.0 today! Fully integrated, allowing
unlimited mailboxes and private fax receiving. Send faxes
from any program that prints. Call in remotely and
retrieve faxes sent earlier. Plain paper or paperless faxing.
Call routing with Centrex/PBX support, and more!
CIRCLE 339 ON READER SERVICE CARD
DSSI+-
JJJ+1 Clearly Superior! This is the quietest,
'■""- mosi professional and attractive digital
sound sampler yet made. Assembled of high-impact clear
polycarbonate, this is the sound sampler to own for the
Amiga. The versatile Digital Sound Studio software
includes a multifaceted program for sampling, editing,
song composition, stereo sound playback as well as
creation of .MOD format songs.
CIRCLE 340 ON READER SERVICE CARD
PhonePak
=GVP
GREAT VALLEY PRODUCTS, INC.
657 CLARK AVENUE KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406 " USA
PHONE 21 5 *354 • 9495 • FAX 215«337«9922
EGS 26/24 Spectrum, Performance Series II, Image FX, G-Lock, IV-24. GeForce 030 Combo. G-Force 040/33 Ccmbo, 4008 SCSI II. loEslender.
PhowPak VFX, and DSSB* are irademartts ol Gfeai Valiey Products, Ik All oiher Irademarks are ttie property a I Ihetr respective owners
Circle 105 on Reader Service card.
Maintain your edge...
AC's Guide gives you the latest in Amiga products and availability;
now subscribe to the magazines that will keep you in the know.
Subscribe to the best resource available for the AMIGA
Amazing
Computing
Amazing Computing, the
first Amiga monthly maga-
zine, remains the first in new
product announcements,
unbiased reviews, and
indepth reporting. AC's
unique columns like Roomers
and Bug Bytes, step-by-step
programming articles, and
entertaining tutorials have
made it the magazine of
choice with devoted Amiga
fans. With AC you remain on
the cutting edge of Amiga
product development.
AC's Guide AC's TECH
The Cw aa tete Amlwt
Commodore Out — Amiga In . ;
AC (AWE/AMIGA
■
II
I
I I "M—i
!■■■■■■■■! ,
!■■■■»■■■■■- mf Mm
E ■■■■■■■■■■■*> ^*M*W
■ ■■■■■■■■■■■> ~ .!<■■■
!■■■■■■■■■■ i ■***!!■■■
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■i
■ ■■■■■■■Ml !■■■■«■
■■■■I !■■■■■■■
L===595S55SSS555!55!
AC'sGttide remains the AC's TECH was the first
world's best resource for disk-based technical maga-
Amiga product information. zine for the Amiga. This
A compilation of new prod- quarterly collection of pro-
uct announcements from AC grams, techniques, and
and exhaustive research, developer issues has been
AC's GUIDE is a constantly created for Amiga owners
updated reference to the ever who want to do more with
changing Amiga market. their Amigas. If you want to
expand your Amiga knowl-
With an AC SuperSub, you edge beyond the ordinary,
will receive 12 issues of then AC's TECH is a must.
Amazing Computing and two
issues of AC's GUIDE at a
tremendous savings.
Complete your Amazing Computing library and FRS collection
Mail or FAX (508-675-6002) the enclosed order form or call toll-free in U.S. or Canada, 800-345-3360.
Foreign orders please call 508-678-4200
NEW
PRODUCTS
and otk&r xe&tgteiKK
The following are press releases
and news announcements from
Amiga vendors and Others. While
Amazing Computing maintains
ilk' right to edit these entries, the
statements, etc. made in these
reports are those of the vendors and
not Amazing Computing
magazine.
Battle Chess
For CD32
Like playing chess? Then
this game is for you. This CD32
game has a tutorial for those
who have never played chess
before, or if a refresher course is
needed. The pieces come forth
and speak for themselves,
explaining the game play. You
can also fast forward through
the tutorial and begin direct
play.
Battle Chess includes a
Moves Menu which allows
control of the pieces and
position of the game. Included
are commands such as
ForceMove which will move the
CD32 faster if it is taking too
long to make a move,
SuggestMove for those stuck
and need a hint for their next
move, and Replay which allows
you to fast forward one step at a
time to the end of the current
Battle Chess
It will teach you chess as
it defeats you. Multiple
settings allow you to
create a perfectly
matched opponent.
The Lost Vikings
Three extraordinary
characters trapped on an
alien spaceship.
game. The Settings Menu
allows the player to choose
what side and what Board to
use. You can play on either a
2D or 3D Board, but only the 3D
Board has the animated pieces.
The LevelsMenu gives you
control of the Intelligence of
your Battle Chess CD32
opponent. The higher the level
selected the better and longer
Battle Chess will think. So
brush up on those moves and
prepare for a challenge.
Interplay Productions, The
Barn, St John's Yard, Main
Road, Fyfield, Oxon UK OX13
5LN, Tel 0865 390029, FAX
0865 390213.
Inquiry #21 1
The Lost Viking
For CD32
It starts out just like any
other day of Nordic seafaring
when Erik the Swift 1 ", Baleog
the Fierce™, and Olaf the
Stout lv are sud den Iv sucked
into an alien spaceship. You
must help them find their way
home, but each mysterious door
you help them through throws
them into different eras in time
and new enemies! The game
promises hours of adventurous
fun with hundreds of mind
blowing puzzles to play and
conquer in over 3r> levels of
plav. 1-ach Viking has his own
attitude which comes alive as
they talk to each other in
cartoon captions while taking
vou through worlds such as
Prehistoria Egypt, The Great
Factory, Wacky World, and
more.
Interplay Productions, The
Barn, St John's Yard, Main
Road, Fyfield, Oxon UK OX13
5LN, Tel 0865 390029, FAX
0865 390213.
Inquiry #212
Special Thanks
Some foreign Amiga and CD32 games have been
provided by Arnigaman, Computer Basics, Inc., 1490 N.
Heritage, PA 16148, (800) 258-0533, Fax (412) 962-0279,
& British Magazine Distributors.
September 1994
AMIGA CD ;
i - a I ■- i . * f - J-yU
Jihjl h i , . ,?
Mission
Impossible
2025 The
Special
Edition
SE Robots and
^ traps in a
maze.
Impossible Mission 2025
The Special Edition
For CD32
2025 AD. The evil ELvir
Atombender has built a top-
secret high-security tower. He
has filled it with powerful and
dangerous robots. He is about
to unleash this menace on nn
unsuspecting world. Your
mission: Get in there and stop
him!
Three Agents are available
to help you in your quest, Tasha
- Hyper Gymnast, Felix Fly -
Riot Ranger, and RAM 2 -
Renegade Robot. Time is of the
essence as it is believed that
AMIGA, CD
Elvin is planning an escape to
the Moon in a rocket based
inside the Tower. Not only is
time against you, but mam-
types of robot guards will be
looking to do you in as vou
progress to the higher floors.
As vou search take and use
whatever you can. Travel
options include running,
-omersaulling, using ele\ ators
lifts, or riding the mono-rail.
MicroProse Ltd, The Ridge,
Chipping Sodbury, Bristol UK
BS17 6AY.
Inquiry #213
VCDTV
insight
DIN
in association with
DINOSAURS ■
THE
NATURAL HISTORY
MUSEUM, LONDON
Insight Dinosaurs
For CD32
This is the second title in
the 'INSIGHT' series for CD32,
CDTV and a570 owners. Insight
Dinosaurs was produced in
association with The Natural
History Museum, London and
features the work of world
renowned Dinosaur illustrators.
This unique title brings to life
these long dead giants of the
past through photos, illustra-
tion, computer graphics, motion
video, text, narration and sound
effects.
Dinosaur A-Z, Death of
the Dinosaur, Anatomy, Attack
&: Defence, Carnivores,
Herbivores, Shifting Conti-
nents, Climate, Fossil Hunters,
Fossil Hunting, Timeline,
Family Tree and Funosaurs are
some of the items explored. A
shipping date of June 27th, 1994
is expected with a price of
£39.95 inc VAT and P&P (25%
discount for registered
Pandora's CD owners and
Educational Institutions).
Optonica Ltd, 1 The Terrace,
High Street, Lutterworth,
Leicestershire, UK LE17 4BA,
Tel: +44 455 558282, FAX: +44
455 5593B6.
Inquiry #214
Bump 'N' Burn
For CD32
Prepare yourself for the
world's craziest race. Once a
decade drivers come from all
over Toonia to test their skill in
a no holds barred contest of
speed and destruction called
the Bump 'N' Burn champion-
ships. The current champion is
Count Chaos in a car called the
Skull - Crusher Special.
Undefeated since the tourna-
ment started, he is a ruthless
driver who will stop at nothing
to retain his title.
The contestants face
numerous challenges as they
travel through each of Toonia's
seven regions. The horror of
the Haunted Forests, the danger
of the War Citv, freezing
conditions in the Polar Zone
and trip into Future World.
Onlv one thing is certain, your
opponents will use devious
schemes to make sure YOU
don't reach the checkered flag
first. Game features include 8
original characters, secret levels,
an innovative weapon system,
16 varied tracks, 3 different play
modes, split screen and two
plaver mode.
Grondslam, Tel 44 81 680-
7044, FAX 44 81 686-7535.
Inquiry #210
10
A MA zi.\ a Com pvti n a
stop looking! rwri nuter Answers $!8sJ
We have the lowest Amiga prices anywhere! V/V/lllUUlVl XTVXAlJ VV WA kj (306)
Better Yet. WE ACTUALLYHAVE CD-32's. 1200's. 917- Central Avenue, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada S6V-4V2 n ir\ n n/\ i
(306) 953-8960
(306) 953-8961
9:30-6:00 Mon-Sat (Mountain)
When this add went to press, the details of the Commodore re-oreanization were not finalised, however, all indications are that this change of direction will put the Amiga in it's
strongest position ever! We are very excited about the future of the Amiga and are continuing to offer the best possible prices on all available Amiga s.
400W030S. & 4000/mO->
Phone: (306) 764-2888 Fax: (306) 76+0088 BBS: (306) 764-0888
CD-32
$299
■ 6«EC020Cpuffil4Mlir
■ AGA 32-Bit Chipset
■ 2 MB CWp RAM
600 MB CD-ROM Drive
■ Double Speed CD-ROM
| Limited Supplies!
A 1200
$329
-68EC020Cpu® l4Mta
-AGA 32- Bit Chipset
-2 MB Chip RAM
■ IDE Hani Drive Controller
■ 880K Floppy Drive
Back in Stock.
Amiga 1200 HD
-Amiga 1200 Computer
- 68020 CPU @ 14 Mhz
- 2MB RAM
- 210 MB Internal Hard Drive
- Electrohome 1440 Monitor
- All Cables & Connectors
$1,399
O&s, we actually have 1200's)
4000/030
$1,299
-68EC030Cpuffl25 Mh!
- Math Chip Optional
-2 MB Chip RAM
- SDE Hard drive Conlroller
- 1.76 MB Floppy Drive
Back in Stock!
4000/040
$1,499
- 68LC040 Cpu ® 25 Mhz
■ Math Chip Optional
-2 MB Chip RAM
IDE Hard Drive Controller
■ 1.76 MB Floppy Drive
| Supplies Limited! -
4000 Tower
$2,399
68040Cpu@25Mhz
■ Math Chip built-in
• 2 MB Chip RAM
■ SCSI Si. IDE Dnvc Controllers
• U6 MB Floppy Drive
| Call for Availability! \
Amiga 1200/030
-Amiga 1200 Computer
- 68030 CPU ® 25 Mhz
- 4MB RAM
- 340 MB Internal Hard Drive
- Electrohome 1440 Monitor
- All Cables & Connectors
$1,999
(ybs, we actually have 1200's)
Toaster 4000
Amiga 4000 Computer
68030 CPU @ 25 Mhz
10MB RAM
210 MB Internal Hard Drive
Video Toaster 3.1
-Commodore 1084 Monitor
$3,999
(Best Toaster Starter Ever!)
PAR System
■ Amiga 4000 Computer
■ 68030 CPU @ 25 Mhz
■ 6MB RAM
■ 2 1 & 540 MB Hard Drives
- PAR Card (60fps animation)
■ Electrohome 1440 Monitor
$4,099
(Broadcast Quality Anims!)
Amiga 4000 Upgrades
1MB Simm
% 39"
4MB Simm
$ 159*-
8MB Simm (60ns)
J 339"
16MB Simm (60ns)
S 689"
32MB Simm (60ns)
SI 349"
210 MB IDE HD
J 199"
340 MB IDE HD
S 299"
420 MB IDE HD
J 399"
520 MB IDE HD
J 499"
"Aid to «nr 40OO lyittm!
Warped Toaster
■ Amiga 4000 Computer
- Warp Engine 040 @ 40 Mhz
■20 MB RAM
- 540 MB SCSI-II Hard Drive
■Video Toaster 3.1 Card
■ Commodore 1084 Monitor
$6,599
(Fastest Toaster Ever!)
■Mitare
Anim Workshop Version 2.0
Deluxe Paint 4.5 (AGA Version!)
Brilliance Paint 174 Bit on AGA!)
Final Copy Word Processor
Pro Calc
ProPage4.1
ProDraw3.03
S 39 Accelerators 3: Memory Boards
S 109 Warp Engine 4028 (28Mhz & SCSI-1])
S 75 Warp Engine 4033 (33Mhz& SCSI-II)
i 75
S 699
$1099
Monitors with Amiga / Alone
Commodore 2024 (1024XS00) $199/5269
Amiga 4000/CD!
- A40M/040, 6MB RAM/210 HD
- CD-ROM &. Conlroller
$2,299
\
Par Animation Card!
60 fps Broadcast Quality Anims
500 MB Hard Drive
$2,299
2024 Hi-Res Monitor
■ 1024 X 800 Non-Interlaced
- Ideal for Desktop Publishing!
$199 1 1
ElectrohomeI4 "
■ .28mm Dot Pilch, 15-40Khi(14")
- Developed here in Canada!
$439
I
Caligari24
Real 3D version 2.0
Imagine 3.0 (Now In Stock!)
Sparks (Particle Animation)
Swipes (for Video Toaster)
■ici&DTYPeriphaals
$ 119 RocGen (Low cost external genlock)
$ 379 SuperGsu SX (Broadcast quality)
S 379 TBC IV from DPS (Updated version) $ 789
$ 99
$ 89
Grolliers Encyclopedia
- on CD-ROM
$49
\
Amiga 4000@40Mhz ?. .qq
- Ad/VYlrf\lTj# dfiMhs /Warn FnoiJ '
Art Department Pro (Ver 15)
Montage Character Generator)
Pegger (JPeg compression!)
Bars & Pipes Professional Version 2.0
Deluxe Music Version 2,0
Dist ant Suns Version 5.0
Image FX Version 1.5
A4OO0/O4O &. 40Mhz (Warp Engtnl
20 MB RAM & 540 Fist SCSI-II Hard Dnve
Kitchen Sync (Two complete TBC 's!)
Retina 24 Bit Card 2MB (Still great!)
Retina ZI1I (4MB Version)
$ 139
$225 Picasso II (24 Bit Graphics Card)
$ 69 GVP Spectrum (with pass-thru)
$ 215
$ 79
$ 59
S 169
MPBG Card for CD-3.
-with any two movies, FREE!
\t*K*l\JhC tiirx. BUck Riun. Urn Jt
AhmJi'n, Rni 0..+0 Ukiin! JV..—* .
h*>« Cka^Slmt, si» Tn* fi, TV P
Warp Engine 4040 (40Mhz & SCSI-II) $1299
S 199 DKB l24O,68030@40Mhz $299
$689
Printers
StarNX-1001 (9pmNLQ) S 119
Star NX- 1040 (9 pin Color with NLQ) $139
Star NX-2430 (24 pin Letter Quality) $179
Star NX-2450 (24 pin Color, SheetFeeder !) $ 219
Star NX-2480 <24 pin Color. 330 cps!)
$1189 Star SJ-144 (Color InkJet)
$ 299 Primera (Best color output)
S 729 Hewlett Packard Desk J et 520 (600 dpi!)
i 429 Hewlett Packard DeskJet 500c Color!) $ 369
$389 HewlettPackardDeskJetS60c(600dpi) $549
Hewlett Packard 4L S 659
I
Commodore 1950 Multiscan $299 / $399
Electrohome 1440 MultiScan $449/ $449
1428 Bi-Scstt (640X400 & 800X600) S269/S299
JDEKIT Multi-Scan (NTSCA VGA) SS99/S959
CD-ROM & Controller for 21X30/3000/4000 $ 199
Double Speed CD-ROM & Controller S 229
IOMEGA 150i MB Bernoulici cartridge $ 469
$ 239 fyl" 1 *' iQSWB a '' for 4000 S 359
t 449 DalaFlyer XDSEiternal for 1200 $ 65
$ 749 DaiaFlyer 4O00SX SCSI Controller % 79
$ 269
14400 Baud Modem
-/nit Modem twifi Fax!
$129
$299
TSDTJ
Warp Engine @40Mhs ~
-68040 & SCSI-IT @ 40 Mhz" I ^ ' V
\
J
1
Video Toaster Starter
-A4000/030, I0MB&2I0HD
■ Toasler 4000 Version 3. 1 &. CBM 1 084 Monitor
$3,999
Pnxlu cilliOi- Business, Utilities & Prog ramming
AmiBackci AmtBack Tools $ 55
SASCiC" Version 6.5 $239
DevPac Version 3 (Assembler) $69
EDGE Professional Teit Editor $59
Home Front Version 15 $ 29
Merlin 24 Bit Video board $569
VLab Video Digitizer with 30fps $369 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ m
VLab Y/C ( with Super VHS connections) $ 469 Modems Sr Scanners
Personal Animation Recorder by DPS $ 1459 Supra 2400 Modem
Video Toaster (with computer only) S1799 GP FAX Software for Supra Modems
I
FastLane Z3 FAST SCSI-II Controller $ 499
DKB 4091 FAST SCSI-II Controller $ 289
AlfaData External 880K External Floppy $ 69
PouerComputing 1.76MB External Floppy S149
Video Toaster 3.1 Card
- With any Amiga 4000 System
$1799
Image FX from GVP
* Version 1.5
$169
Best Data [4.400 Baud Fax/Modem
AlfaData SOO dpi Hand Scanner
$ 49
$ 49
$ 149
S 169
J
Personal Component Adaptor (YC+)
S 259
Brilliance
- #1 Painting program.'
$59
\
MultiFace HI Card $ 79
Emplant Color Emulator (IBM Soon!) $249
AMAX Color Macintosh Emulator $359
We will beat anyone's price o n in st ock ite ms'
We have the best prices on
Amiga, ASDG, AifiDali, Axiom Software,
Beat Dala Products, CSA, Digital Crealiwii.
Digital ProaMcuag Syaiemi, DKB, H Leaf on k
Arts, fixpanikm Systcmi, Bxpert Syttenti,
Fargo, Epson, Grollier*, GVP, Gold Duk,
Heifner, Hewlett Packard, IDEK, Ento-worki,
Iomega, MacroSystema, Maxtor, Microbotica,
Mkropolis, Migraph. Moonlighter, NEC.
NewTek. Primera. Prime Image, PtygiiOiiia,
Quantum, RcadySoft, Hombo. Samsung,
Sanyo, Scagaie, SoftLogic, Softwood, Staj.
SanRite, Supra, Syquwt, US Robotica,
Utilitiea Unlimited, Warm & Fuzzy Logic
CD-32 Tides
$18-S29&up!
\: *lun Knij;l}!>
BiilloClie**
B*.t v The W.tW
Rsicly Bio-**
B°--ikrd
Bntwci
H:iL[«]Sr-ft.
FnrxbiU
BubbniiSiyi,
Bubble.* S.[nn.k.
CtrmMV DrtutC
C^twi II
i l i; |H i:i I>;.i,*::j--
C.rtl«[l
Cbirji Enpnr
Chuck Rock
CJ 'i Bl^ihiini Aarku
Dwuiiii
; "I ■ :■ ■-! -i- i i ■ I • ' i ■ ■ ■' i ■
:•!.:,., -,,.!. r
1 "'■ r. ,.-■: . *. -i -■■■--■ .
DpnpCtre
Drftmd ff d ihc
Crown 2
DwrauilJi'c'McniicB
Digjer*
BBEb3
f '';.*;:■;■: ■■! : ■ *''•*'.',
Fvt Si It*
FirrF™"
Fl>' H«dar
Furyipf ihe Fuir>n
rdtll
Gkibil EUki
(liilriitVLnlKii
CfilDiBrl
QskHH Ko
G.iLp
QvitUp 20CO
HwP»i!bttit?Cbe-
Hkrd Gim.
Ilunuiiii I & 2
[rilnr^l i. .t.t K.f»<r
JiUlrt PiTlllII
J J liln. Pent! Ill
KruiH ■ Fun Hcu*e
Lxb-T Jlkih iifTnDc
Legacy of Sort »il
Liber it.kon
[_imiLKr»rl
l.r.?.i|--..: i-minl!
Lo*( Vftbip
Limi< Trili^y
Lunju-C
MajgivWil Diay
Muicnnter Soccn
".'. ■:■<■.. ■■_■■.-::*>
MjGRXBBfn
Mtxpn
Mjlh
btragbtj On™
SWk.F.HoGoJf
Koji HI
No Svcund Prise
Cham
»Aall
Pff»lr*G-.Jd
RiworiheiRobuli
BtDTI
SmtLUfii
Scniible&ictcc
:■;:-:-: tbc '■ . , , ■ j '
9wp%viLk«r
SocorKkd
%njpana
SumnKT Of>ni|tu
Supw Puliy
Skiper Mrtkunp Brca
TFX
Totil CanUfi
7:irt« l'- TreM.«urM
TrrfUl Purmh
Troll*
Tl«k«n J
L^nJnim 2
US Forth* J
Wh»l« Vi»y*jp
Awl 2
m vv your C&J?
Btvr' Wc wtt the tint
(tutor m MrtV
/•rrtrrw* ■' f)iif Vk
CD-J2 Jb ur iii>c the
.•,•-: -.i. : of
Of/™ 1 Mm blie* 4jt
JJSCC." S\l!X t>.'[fKW
OrJm hoy M j-tJnuHj
<j vd atti "."w .._.- m'
fiinmr «1T A c/lPLl J
Snrhvarr t Ptviphrnli A Anrr**nrr*n
0-20ffx SSAb 2 Dip
0«a- 20*11 add JCfib 2 Dap
CJ>32orAl200 $19
A4000or40QQT $39
Afonitnt $29
JAM
SDty*
SDtyt
TV<- IK ihc ntn^ file* a itlrver. lime* in buainru ili'.t (or
frotnd tcrvix wtthir Cir-jhti It liit (.ISA, and include ill rc|*Ur
itifffiAt. luivflLrtj. dutj. hrukmp, cuioiiii clnniKt indcWrlD
iii»>r lieustrnr Siimr milFn mmy irquiir ipn-'nl hvoJUanz.
(iRwi «-c r.t juwintccd. LTS/Pe-iiL'tJ'liiJ will no( jvccr4 cUju
f»r J*mifcTion wiU»c_i
" 'OK It's a 6 point foot now. Is thit better? The prices sho^n art m L'SSandare based on the USS-CanadtanS exchange rale as of add cr-ation therefore actual prices may varv slightly - (usuaUy less Irian V;S). All Iransacltons are in
Canadian funds. Your bank will convert lo Canadian funds when you place an order and we authorise your card. You do not get charged any tariffs t>r duties. This add reilecls products & pricing 'available to us as o\ June 30*94. By the
Ume you read this in the Sep 94 Issue, some things will prnhahlv have changed. Delivery lime* are not guaranteed- There u ill be a ]$% restocking fee on orders refused/cancelled/rciiirricd (cxett\ for jfeftctlvu relumed for warranty
repair! hem* temporarily out of slock will Ik ^fwcul urdered and shipped when available. If any of this is unclear, please ask for details before ordering. Sorrv, hut wccan'i be respiin^iblc tor damage, delays or loii dunnk; ihipninc sn
please insure your order. Prices shown reflect a Z% Cash discount. ' Atari Ruies! (Psych!)
Circle 1 1 1 on Reader Service card.
J-JjS^J 3.A5J C
exPreSs
HfSoft BASIC 2
Oregon Research has announce
a major upgrade to HiSoft
BASIC and BASIC professional.
In HiSoft BASIC Version 2,
program development takes
place in an integrated editor-
compiler-debugger environ-
ment The new multi-
windowed editor, with special
Workbench 2 and 3 support is
specifically designed to aid
program development. It
features bookmarks, mouse
block marking, macros and is
fully user configurable. The
compiler is twice as fast as
previous versions vet retains
compatibility with previous
versions as well as Microsoft
QuickBASIC and AmigaBASIC.
HiSoft BASIC 2 comes with 640
pages of documentation
including an extensive tutorial
section. HiSoft BASIC 2 works
on all Amiga systems with 1Mb
or more of memory and one
floppy drive, 2Mb of memory
and a hard drive are recom-
mended for large projects or to
take full advantage of Work-
bench 2 and 3 features.
Retailing for S129.95, it is
available now. Upgrades from
any previous version of HiSoft
BASIC, BASIC Professional, or
Power BASIC are S69.00 + $5.00
S&H.
Oregon Research, 16200 SW
Pacific Hwy, Ste 162, Tigard,
OR 97224, {503)620-4919,
FAX (501) 624-2940.
Inquiry#203
MaxonMAGIC
MaxonMAGlC is a modular
screen saver and system audio
manager that will put FUN
back in your Amiga. Over 20
colorful, animated, and
amusing screen savers that will
entertain while protecting vour
monitor from burn-in. Sound
samples or songs can also be
added to each screen saver.
MaxonMAGIC screen savers
run on all Amiga's and with all
add-on graphics boards that
support Workbench emulation.
MaxonMAGIC is also a
sophisticated system audio
manager, add on your choice of
samples to a variety of system
events, keys, alerts etc.
Retailing for S49.95,
MaxonMAGIC is available now.
Oregon Research, 16200 SW
Pacific Hwy, Ste 162, Tigard,
OR 97224, (503) 620-4919,
FAX (50 1) 624-2940.
Inquiry §204
Address II! vl.5
Legendary Design Technologies
has announce that vl.5 of their
addressing package for the
Amiga computer is now
shipping. There are many new
features, most notably the
brand new "3D" interface look,
improved exporting and
importing that now supports
Pinai Writer, new postal
formats that make the program
useful in all countries of the
world, and improved laser/ink-
jet support.
Registered owners of
previous version can upgrade
to vl.5 for only S7.50 US
including shipping. If proof of
purchase is provided, those
who bought the product after
June 15, 1994 will receive a free
upgrade.
Legendary Design
Technologies Inc, 25
Fronfenac Avenue, Brantford,
Ontario CANADA N3R 3B7,
Phone/FAX (519) 753-6120.
Inquiry #205
Multi Layer
Prime Software announces the
release of MultiLayer, the
digital layering, compositing
and effects tool for the Amiga.
Unlimited layering of motion
video or stills with a full
timeline/editing interface has
been made simple. Multiple
sequences of graphics and
video can be composited using
Image Mapping, Luminance-
keying, Alpha keying. Chroma
keys and more. Image
sequences can be generated in
resolutions from 100 x 100 pixel
anims to film resolutions of
4800 x 3000 pixels and beyond
in lull 24-bit color. Available
lor the introductory price of
S89.95 plus S4.00 S&H (until
September I, 1994) it requires
Nova Design's Image- FX or
ADPro for compositing and
Workbench 2.0.
Prime Software, 31 164
Country Way, Farmington
Hills, Ml 48331-1035, Tel (810)
661-3393.
Inquiry #206
Amiga Air & Space
Software
Explore the Heavens with your
Amiga and this 12 disk
collection of public domain and
shareware Space Science related
software. Plot planetary
motions, create personalized
sky charts, track hurricanes,
travel to Mars, study stellar
phenomena and much more. A
set of 1 2 disks is available for
S29.95 (includes shipping) or
individual disks are available.
Kinetic Designs, PO Box 1646,
Orange Park, FL 32067- 1646.
inquiry #207
MediaEditor 3.9.8
MediaEditor 3.9.8 is now
shipping with a brand new
manual and lots of new
features, like variable screen
resolution, point-and-click A/B
- Roll, Toaster, VBOX, and
VISCA control. You can even
use Video Director and Nucleus
control cables. Launch ARexx
scripts from third party
programs like TRexx, Sunrise,
and Bars & Pipes.
Industrial decks like the
Panasonic AG-7750 and AG-
5700, the JVC BR-Sf>05U. the
Sony VO-9600, EVO-y8"0 and
CVD and more are included in
a new industrial driver set. The
new RS-422 controller interfaces
9-Pin industrial decks to the
Amiga both through the main
serial port and expansion ports,
and RS-232 decks need no
controller at all. Asa
MediaPhiie customer you can
upgrade to the latest hardware
and software for 50",, off list. A
software upgrade with new
manuals and free technical
support is just S75.
Interactive Microsystems,
Inc., 9 Red Roof Lane Ste 2,
Salem, NH 03079-2929, Tel
(603) 898-3545, (603) 898-
3606.
Inquiry #208
Phonepak Developer
Announces A4000 Fix
Atlantis Design Group,
developers of PhonePak VFX,
announced the availability of a
fix for the Zorro II DMA
circuitry of the A4000/040
computer. A defect prevented
PhonePak from working
reliably in most cases, causing
voice messages to change pitch
or become garbled. Service
Management Group of
Columbia, MD will perform the
necessary upgrade to the
Commodore 68040 processor
board for S99. Interested
parties should contact SMG at
610-363-4003 for further
information.
The culprit was the U209
chip on the '040 processor
board. According to Christo-
pher Darsch, President of
Atlantis, thev were able to
convince Commodore to li\ this
problem in time for the first run
of the 4000 tower but CBM
liquidated before the informa-
tion could be passed to
consumers and dealers. Darsch
gathered the information and
formed an alliance with SMG to
do the upgrade.
Atlantis Design Group, inc.,
5551 Riverside Or, Richmond,
VA 23225. (804) 23 1 -2302,
FAX (804) 231-2328.
Inquir #209
12
A mazixg Co.wrurixG
Toccata
Revicived By: Douglas J. Nakakihara
Toccata ($499) is a new 16-bit sound board for the Amiga manufactured by
MacroSystem in Germany. Noahji's has picked up U.S. distribution of this as well as
other MacroSystem products like Retina and VLab, previously distributed by
MacroSystemUS (no relation). The board features direct to hard disk recording and play-
back. There are three stereo line and one stereo microphone inputs, and one stereo out-
put. Audio can be sampled all the way up to CD (44.1KHz) and DAT (48KHz) rates. The
board is capable of 16 channel 16-bit or 32 channel 8-bit playback, but current software
only gives you four channels at most. (Look for this to change soon!)
The board fits info any Zorro II slot. Three quarter-inch stereo
jacks are mounted on the rear of the card (quarter-inch stereo to
RCA adapter cables are included). Two of these are for line input
and the other is the output jack. The third line input and the
microphone are mini jacks located on the top of the card. If you are
willing to give up another slot, an adapter that cables these to
quarter-inch jacks mounted on an extra expansion slot cover is
included. You could also drill holes in your case or find another
means to feed the small cables out the rear of your Amiga. (I found
it strange that this extra bracket is mentioned later in the manual
and not in the installation section.) The three inputs are referred to
as Line, AUX1, and AUX2.
Toccata Software
The Toccata software is modular in design and opens several
windows. The ToceataControl window is where you configure the
board. For sampling mode, you can choose 8-bit, 16-bit, or two
compressed forms, mono or stereo, and set the sampling rate. Input
selection and level is also set here. There is an option of mixing the
two auxiliary inputs. Finally, you can set the output and loopback
levels. Loopback allows you to monitor what is being input into the
Toccata. Input level indicators can optionally be displayed. When
they are, the loopback fidelity is reduced. All of the interface
gadgets, like volume and input level, work in real-time as do the
level meters. ToceataControl has extensive ARexx support.
I'm not sure why, but the Toccata Recorder program duplicates
all of the mode settings in the ToceataControl window and will
override these setting when you record. To record, like a basic tape
recorder, vou click the Record button. When you want it to stop
you click Stop. To play what you've recorded, you click Playback.
Pretty simple, eh? You also define the name of the file you want the
sample saved to in this window.
There are also two player programs included. One is called
ToccataJingiePlayer. This is an interesting program that took me a
while to figure out. Besides just being a sample player, it allows you
to mix whatever is connected to either AUX1 or AUX2 with a
Sanplitude MS "2,94 uon Titus Tost I'SEK'D 1994 C: 1.690. 264 F: 7.974.286
ol DgteteHe.Sanple 16 Bits L: 1.694.288 H: 7.217.152 LBJIEi
IQ
lllll.L!.,il..l 1 „Ui.i. l i "i,
Toccata Control
Mode
I nput
Mix
_) 8 6it
(• 16 Bit
_> H-Law
) u-Law
V I Stereo
441BB Hz
C? Line
_J fluxl
-J Mic
_) Mix
Leoe I
+18-
+12-
Mlcrophone +6 "
i; -. in
Rux1
+ 12;
-12=
-24 =
flux2
+12-
-12^
-24 =
Loopback
8-
-39 =
-68 =
n| Toccata Recorder 1.1
IEIB
8 Bit _J s. triple... | It :test
16 Bit r~ ' '
H-Lau _) Frequency
J 44188 Hz
II
BltQ
Output
Vol un e
8; —
-38 =
-68 =
-98 =
Cancel
M_
1:1 I H
fill
Rnw;r
_4^_
I M I
All of the interface
gadgets, like volume
and input level, work in
real-time as do the
level meters.
ToceataControl has
extensive ARexx
support.
September 1994
13
sample. All of the samples must be in the same directory and their
filenames will appear in .1 little window. This would be great for
playing sound effects on demand, like for a morning radio show or
something like that. You would run the normal audio through the
Toccata using, say, AUXI and then when you needed a sound
effect, just double-click on it. This program has an ARexx port too.
The ToccataPIayer plays single samples and was designed for
use from theCLI. When run from the Workbench, a file requestor
will appear, but it will not play anything.
Public Screens
Many Amiga programs run on public screens. This means that
other programs can open windows right on their screens and look
like they are part of that program. It's exactly like opening a
window on the Workbench, except the window opens on another
program's screen. All of the Toccata programs support public
screens and the implementation is one of the best I've seen. A list of
running public screens can be brought up from the menu and you
simply click on the desired one. You can also set the public screen
name using the CL1. In fact, this is the only way to set it for the
Toccata Record progra m .
Sound Quality
16-bit sound samples are awesome to be sure, but 8-bit
samples are possibly more impressive. Bv that 1 mean, the 8-bit
samples sound many times better than what you can get out of a
stock Amiga. The manual explains that the Toccata board digitizes
the sound using 1 6 bits but compresses it on-the-fly into S bits. On
playback, it decompresses the 8-bit sample in reai time. This results
in substantially belter signal-to-noise ratio than if the audio was
sampled directly into 8 bits. The two compressed sample formats
are also impressive. Compared to 16-bit samples, file sizes arc cut in
half with little noticeable difference in sound quality — at least to
my post-rock band ears.
Editing
A full-featured 16-bit sample editor called Samplitude MS by
SEK'D is bundled with Toccata. It provides a means to fine tune
samples. This is an extremely comprehensive sample editor and has
it's own 78-page manual. If your samples are extremely large,
Samplitude can edit them on your hard disk, which eliminates the
need to load them entirely into RAM.
Samples are opened in their own window and you can have
multiple samples opened a( the same time. You can even cut and
paste between different samples. If you like keyboard shortcuts,
Samplitude has a ton of them.
Samplitude has the unique ability lo display up to three
independent windows of the same sample. This keeps you from
having to constantly reselect different ranges when doing serious
editing.
All of the standard sample editing features you'd expect are
there, like fades, echo, cut-and-paste, etc.. It works quite nicely with
Toccata stereo samples and I can see why it is bundled. The Playlist
is a neat feature that allows you to program different parts of a
sample to play in a certain order. I have only seen this in Oxxi's
AudioMaster program, but that only works with native Amiga 8-bit
samples. In a certain sense, it is like creating a sound tracker
module. In fact, an eight-channel tracker-like program that
supports Toccata, called MignonTracker, should be available soon.
Name Calling
All sample editors allow you to highlight a range in a sample.
This allows you to display the range full-screen for detailed editing
or lets you apply a special effect to only a certain portion of the
sample. Samplitude includes a handy feature similar to what are
called bookmarks in word processors. Basically you can assign
names or keys to multiple ranges in a sample, which allows you to
quick!)- reselect them. This naming feature is also implemented for
single (cursor) points in a sample.
Projects
In addition to loading and saving samples, you can save and
load projects. Projects retain all of the editing parameters like range
names. This can be a real time saver if vou are editing the same
sample over several sessions.
You can record directly to the Toccata from Samplitude. The
manual indicates that there is a control gadget to bring up the
Toccata mixer window, but 1 couldn't find it. However, it was an
easy task to launch ToccataControl from the Workbench and then
specify the Samplitude public screen. Samplitude includes real-time
analog-looking VU and DB meters.
Samplitude Pro II
There is an advanced version of Samplitude called Samplitude
Pro II available according to the manual. One important feature this
adds, is the ability to transmit and receive information from certain
MIDI samplers, including ones from AKAI, Roland, EMU,
Sequential, and Yamaha.
Requirements
At 44.1 kHz, one minute of 16-bit audio requires about 5MB of
storage space (less with compression). If vou are recording to a
hard disk, an '020-based Amiga or better is recommended. If you
want to simultaneously playback more than two tracks of audio,
you'll need an '030 or better and a fast hard disk. 68000-based
Amigas can record to RAM and reduce the number of tracks or
sampling rate.
The Manuals
To say the least, both the Toccata and Samplitude manuals are
sometimes difficult to follow and understand, but not impossible.
This reflects the sometimes literal English translations from
German. There are also some updating that needs to be done,
which isn't the fault of the translators.
Summary
Toccata will be incredible when 16/32-chnnnel software
becomes a reality. As it is, Toccata and Samplitude are still solid
performers. Medial'oint compatibility is reportedly already done
and if Scala support becomes a reality, you will really have
something. A hardware/software add-on for SMPTE timecode
support exists according to the manual, but Noahji's couldn't
comment on pricing or U.S. availability vet. If this is affordablv
priced, it makes the board much more useful. Currently, Toccata
lacks the power and polish of SunRize's Studiol6 software, but
Toccata provides a lot more bang for your buck.
•AC'
Toccata
NoahJi's
3591 Nyland Way
Lafayette, CO 80026
(303)499-1975
Inquiry #240
14
Amazing Computing
Digital Imagery
High Quality
35 MM
Slides
from your
Amiga™
Graphic Files
Slide imaging prices start at
JUST $3.50
(72-hour Turnaround / 4K Resolution / Most Amiga Formats)
945 Walnut Street Fall River, MA 02720
Voice Tel. 508.676.0844
BBS 508.676.9308 (14400/8N1)
FAX 508.676.5186
"■-■■''-'•-
Got a Great Idea for a Program?
Make it Real with '
Z^ji
'•2.s
CanDo Lets you convert your ideas into reality.
CanDo is a software authoring system that gives you the power of a programming language, yet makes creating your
program's interface as easy as using a paint program. Because CanDo is tailor-made for the Amiga, all of the exciting
Graphics. Sounds, and mouse-driven Objects that are built into your computer are at your fingertips. This gives you
everything you need to make your ideas come to life.
CanDo Makes real programs real easy.
Painlessly creating your interface is just the beginning. The key to making real programs is CanDo's English-like
scripting language. Even if you're a beginner, you can still use CanDo's tools to write programs for you. While easy
to learn and use, the commands are so powerful you can create programs which would take 10 times longer to write
using a language such as C - even presuming you had years of programming experience.
CanDo Is programming for the rest of us...
Ordinary people all over the world are using CanDo to create real applications such as: databases, utilities, animated
multimedia presentations, kiosks, training systems, and all sorts of games. CanDo enables you to explore your
imagination and make the things you never thought you had the time or experience to do.
JaJ^^JRONICS
interactive media
Inovalronics. Inc. / 8499 Greenville Avenue / Suite 209B / Dallas. TX 75231 / USA / Tel: [214] 340-4991 / FAX: (214) 340-85 1 4
■ onics. ltd. / Unit 1 1 , Enterprise Centre / Cfanbome Rood / Potters Bor / Hertfordshire / EN6 30O / ENGLAND I Tel: +44-707-652861 / FAX: +44-707-660992
Inovalronics GmbH / Im Heidkamp 1 1 / VV-5000 Cologne 91 / GERMANY / Telephone +49-221-875126 / FAX +49-221-8704747
Circle 1 14 on Reader Service card.
Snow Words and
Nimble Numbers
In/ Eric Nixon
Two good, old-fashioned learning
experiences for Spelling 8c Math.
With the dearth of educational software available, Amiga
owners must continue to search farther and farther afield for new
I ill!-. Snow i'mhl-. and YimNr \i:ml\T- Lerl.in ll\ Bt the bill; the]
are produced by 1 lokianga Software of New Zealand and marketed
by t.ascelles Productions, who have previously released such titles
as Back to Basics, Word Construction Set, and Kim.
Catch a Falling Letter
Snow Words is Best described as a combination of Scrabble
and Tetris. Players collect falling snowflakes, each of which
contains a randomly generated letter. The letters are used to make a
word and points are awarded on the basis of the word's length, the
value of the letters used, and the speed you've chosen.
There are four different point values assigned to letters,
reflecting their ease of use. They range from one point for the most
common letters up to six points for the most obscure. There are also
golden snow flakes without an enclosed letter. These can represent
any letter you wish; unfortunately, you must make up your mind
Ljuicklv, as you are penalized Iroin the time von i hose .1 golden
snowflake until you type in the letter you wish it to represent.
While vou are playing, you can choose to listen to some
pleasant music and a computerized voice reading the words as vou
enter them. If neither of those options appeals lo \ ou, the game
allows you to play in silence. There is also a pause mode to allow
younger players a bit of time to think; unfortunately, the screen
goes blank, so it is not much of an aid. On the other hand, there is
also a STOP mode, which freezes the snowflakes mid-fall. This is
not recommended, however, as vou are heavily penalized on the
points counter while the game is stopped, in much the same way as
with the golden snowflakes.
Players must also rush against a melting snowman, an
ingenious timer which ticks silently away as the game progresses.
When the snowman turns to a puddle, the game is over and the
player is immediately taken to a score sheet containing all the
spelled words. At this point, a parent or teacher is expected to go
through each word and mark it with a check mark or the default
"X". Points are awarded for correct words, but not deducted for
incorrect ones.
Helpful Suggestions
Snow Words is recommended for players five and up, but
only five year old geniuses should attempt it. The game was totally
Nimble Numbers helps children learn the basics of
counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
beyond mv five year old assistant and only usable by my six year
old tester with great assistance. The penally counter for stopping
the game or choosing a gold snowflake is unfair for younger
players; it's a shame it can't be turned off, as little people need time
to select a letter and should not be penalized while they are
thinking. It is probably best you tell the younger players not to
choose the gold snowflake or stop the game, as the penalty counter
rings up so fast it can prove to be very discouraging.
On the other hand, seven year olds and up will get a lot of
enjoyment out of the program. They will like the challenge of racing
against the clock trying to make new words. If they happen to
misspell a word or make up a new one that doesn't appear in any
dictionary, they don't lose any points, so there's no harm. If,
however, they manage to string some longer words together, they'll
be pleasantly surprised how big a score they can rack up.
September 1994
17
When the scores are all totalled, they can he printed out with .1
list of the words created, their points, the players name, and the
date. This would be especially useful in a classroom setting.
Snow Words comes on one disk, requires 1 MB RAM, and is
easily hard drive installable. The installation program is not the
standard Commodore one, but is very straightforward and does the
job quicklv and easily. The manufacturer claims compatibility with
all Wurkbi nches
Small Problems
There are a couple of minor concerns with the program. When
it starts, you are prompted to enter your name and press RETURN.
Be forewarned that as soon as you do, the game begins, not a
minute or 30 seconds or even five seconds later, but immediately.
The speed of the falling snowflakes is adjustable, but just
barely. Quite oddly, you can choose speeds of anywhere from 1 1 to
17 and then km IK isn't that noticeable a difference: the\ are all a
bit too fast for the youngest players, but 1 suppose that's part of the
challenge.
Finally, once you've started the program, there is no way of
quitting, except bv rebooting the computer. You can't even abort a
game midstream and start again; you must choose whether to play
until the end or reboot and begin again.
Overall, I would heartily recommend Snow Words. The
packaging is not the slickest around; in fact, it comes in a white
video cassette box with a one page photocopied manual. Gut, the
price is most reasonable and the product is certainly good quality.
I'd even venture to say that adults will get as much use out of Snow
Words as their children. Knowing the popularity of both Tetris and
Scrabble, most people will find it hard to resist.
Learning by the Numbers
Nimble Numbers offers a more traditional approach to
educational software, it helps children learn the basics of counting,
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Counting is available in groups from 1-5, 1-10, and 1-15. When
you select from one of these areas, you are presented with groups
of fish and sea creatures in logical patterns. All young children love
counting, so this will prove to be a popular activity even with four
and five year olds. After a number is selected to match the number
of fishies on the screen, a woman's voice reads the number and
offers encouragement or a polite, "Try again". The natural digitized
speech is a refreshing change from the usual computerized voice
heard on many childrens' programs,
Unusual Rewards
Once your little Einsteins get a little farther along, they will
want to try the mathematical problems, which are available in
groups of 1-5, 1-10, 1-15, and 1-30. Progression is fast and easy;
you'll instantly see the improvement in your childrens' numerical
skills. At the end of each group of ten questions, the computer
updates your score, gives a brief comment, and shows a happy face.
When your score reaches more than 50, you'll be rewarded with a
pseudo-animation that is, well let's just say, different. It's accompa-
nied by a children's choir singing a delightful school song.
Nimble Numbers does not appear to have any special
requirements, but the instructions say it is compatible only up to
Workbench 2.1. Hard drive installation is done the old fashioned
way; just drag the icon wherever you'd like to install it and, like
magic, it's installed. 1 wish all programs were this hard drive
friendly.
£6
WORDS
□
Snow Words offers spelling challenges in a combination
Scrabble'7Tetris ;V style.
Back to the Basics
I honestly cannot think of any complaints about Nimble
Numbers. The packaging is unexciting and the manual short, much
like its sister program. Snow Words. When you first start the
program, don't expect to see spectacular animations or 3D ray-
traced graphics. This program is simple and to the point. In today's
world, we often assume everything has to be high tech and glitz} to
keep our children's attention. Perhaps, we should give them a little
more credit. My young testers both enjoy Nimble Numbers
immensely. They like the big bold numbers and the friendly
woman who tells them when they've gotten an answer right.
I also think they like the idea they're learning something, not
just playing a game. Call me a I.uddite if you will, but sometimes
the old ways are still the best.
Software like Nimble Numbers does not come along that
often. It's surely not the most sophisticated product on the market,
but it does everything it claims to and does it well. A lot of schools
would benefit from having such a program available. If there is a
.Mace for all the game-based educational titles and free-form
experimental programs, there should certainly be a place for a
solid, fun, educational product, too. As far as for home use, Nimble
Numbers would make a wise addition to your children's software
library and fit rather nicely amongst the newer style software that's
available.
•AO
Snow Words and Nimble Numbers
by Hokianga Software
Lascelles Productions
Distributed in North America by
Chalkboard Software
2201 Brant St., Suite 542
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
L7P3NB
905-335-9938
FAX 905-335-4043
Inquiry #242
18
^■1 mazing Computing
AMIGA OBERON-2 REVIEW
In/ Michael Griebling
Oberon-2 is the latest object-oriented language from professor Nicholas Wirth
who also brought us Pascal and Modula-2. Oberon-2 shares many of the
features of these precursor languages while simpler and yet supporting the
latest object-oriented features like inheritance through type extension and
polymorphism by vising type-bound procedures. This philosophy of simplic-
ity bucks the industry trend of introducing increasingly complex languages
like C++ and Ada which are more difficult to master than their forbearers.
Overview
The Amiga version of Oberon-2 (Figure 1), by Fridtjof Sieberi, is a
full implementation of the language with some Amiga-specific
extensions which simplify programming bv allowing structured
constants (like 'C') and support an efficient method of generating
interfaces to external libraries. The compiler is integrated with a
full-featured editor in the style of TurboPascal' to allow very rapid
edit/compile/ link/run cycles. The included linker automatically
removes unused code segments to produce executables which are
usually smaller than the equivalent 'C program. Also available is a
run-time, sou rce-lcvel debugger which features breakpoints,
examination of global and local \ .triable:-., and multiple levels ol
stepping through the source code. Other tools provide disassembly
of object code and executables, automatic production of Modula-2
like interface specifications, creation of Amiga libraries from an
Oberon-2 module, generation of variable cross-references, and
setting of the garbage collector preferences.
The Compiler
The optimizing compiler is robust and produces code which is
usually more compact and sometimes the same size as code
produced by the best 'C compilers. Both small code and small data
models are supported along with code generation for most 68(1x0
family processors (except 68040) and including the 68881/68882
floating point coprocessors. Command line and menu-based
options give the ability to selectively enable or disable stack,
overflow, scope, case index, return, nil pointer, odd address, and
runtime type checking. Other options set local variables to zero,
enable register parameters and variables, generate debug informa-
tion, and use the built-in garbage collector. Batch compilations are
also supported where the names of a set of modules to be compiled
are included in a file with a '.bat' extension and then supplied as a
command line argument to the compiler.
The compiler operates within the context of a project which is
defined as a directory containing a minimum of three
subdirectories 'txt', 'obj', and 'sym'. The first of these contains the
Figure 1: Oberon-2 by
Fridtjof Siebert is a full
implementation of Ihe
language with some
Amiga-specific extensions
which simplify
programming by allowing
structured constants (like
'C') and support an
efficient method of
generating interfaces to
external libraries.
Res identtlanager
GarbagePref s
m^
Interfaces!
sun
:) i pi )ef in i t ions IFFSupport
Interfaces2 LtbLtnk
Denos
GarbageCo Hector
Icons
Exanp le
Qberon
0bSup_Scr ipts
obj
flisr
<\>\<A
September 1994 19
txt/ShouIFF.nod
nr-
col, ii. line: ji of 34 chgs: 2 f>le: txt/ShoulFF .nod
IBI.'S
;Pro
; flu;
:fldd
:Sho
: U fr
:Dat
:Cop
:Lan
:Tra
! !np
: Con
:Ren
gran ,
nor.
ress,
rtcut .
5 t on .
e.
vrlght t
guage.
ns (at or
ort s .
tents.
ark.
IFF. nod
tjof Siebert
leueg 67, D-7-Stgt~48
Show
FMd
Mobi
[f bs
I .8
92 Nov-92
PD
Dber
flni
II I
irr
Huf r
on
a Dhcrnn 3,8
uppor I I i h f. I .
Ladeprogrann zun Betrachten von IFF <ILBH>-Bi Iderr
uf : ShouIFF -:filenane>
MODULE ShouIFF!
IMPORT arg: ftrqunents,
I : Intu it ion,
IFF: IFFSupport,
d : Dos :
VflR
MySereen : I.ScreenPtr;
MtndouOunnv: I ,H indouPtr;
Nane : HURRY 98 OF CHHR;
length : INTEGER;
Ciapra ceDrE961M]: SIIORTSET;
BEGIN
IF arg.NunRrgst >H1 THEN
HBLTi2B>;
ELSE
arg.GetHr9<1 ,Nane>;
IF IFF. ReadlLBMCNane, {IFF. front, IFF. u is iu 1<?> ,ttyScreen,H tndouDunny >
UN 1 1 E" ■'. IN Ciapra DO d.DelayO) END;
1 .0 IdC loseScreen<Hy Screen) ;
ELSE
I.&isplavBeep<HIL>;
THFN
Figure 2: Oberon-2's user
interfoce complies with
Commodore's Interface
Guidelines and makes the
process of fixing program
bugs much simpler.
source code, the second holds the compiled object code, .ind the List
stores the compiler symbol files. Any number of projects can be
used and other projects can be referenced by the compiler through
an editable text file which lists all available symbol/object
directories. Thus, when these symbol references from other
projects are included in the source code, the compiler automatically
checks all the directories in this file to find objects which are not
part of the current project.
A useful feature is a comment-based macro facility which
allows embedding conditional compilation structures within the
source code. It is thus possible to use the same source code for
different targets without having to rely on a pre-processor. In fact,
the libraries included with this Oheron-2 implementation fre-
quently use conditional compilation to have the same source
produce object code which either supports the garbage collector or
uses stand-alone memory management.
The Linker
'OLink' is the first linker available for non-'C languages which
both accepts standard Amiga object files and will remove unused
code segments from the final executable image file. It is thus
possible to link in code compiled from other languages, including
assembly code, to take advantage of the many algorithms which are
available in 'C without having to translate them into Oberon-2.
Like the compiler, the linker will search the current project for
all object files referenced in the file being linked. Added references
are also resolved recursively until all symbols have been defined.
During use, the linker has proved to be trouble-free, efficient,
and reliable. Other linkers can learn some lessons from 'OLink',
particularly in how it removes unused code from the final
executable.
The Editor
Although 'OEd' is not my favorite editor, it still is robust and has
never crashed or hung-up. My main reason for using it is that it
supports an integrated edit/compile/link paradigm much like
TurboText supported M2Sprint. I immediately felt comfortable
with this user interface (Figure 2) since it complies with
Commodore's Interface Guidelines and makes the process of fixing
program bugs much simpler.
In typical use, 1 create a source file, invoke Ihe 'Compile' menu
item to compile the source and the compiler pops up a window to
indicate which imported files it is processing. If there are any
problems, I click on the compiler window to close it and the editor
immediately moves to the first error in the source. The window
title bar shows the associated error message. Selecting the 'Next
Error' menu item successively cycles through Ihe following errors.
By using the 'Make' menu item, I can both compile the current
source, link it, and then can execute the resultant program via the
'Execute' menu item.
OEd has a complete ARexx interface sporting 86 different
commands which manipulate the current cursor position in a
document; delete characters and lines; load, save, and print files;
find, search, and replace texl; cut, copy, paste text sections; and can
invoke any of the integrated compiler menu items.
The editor is extremely configurable and allows the definition
of practically any key on the keyboard combined with all flavors of
keyboard qualifiers. The menu items can also be completely
tailored. OEd supports an undo facility, which is limited only by
the user-specified size of the undo buffer.
The Debugger
A full-screen, source-level debugger called 'ODebug' (Figure 3) is
available as a separate package. The debugger is extremely useful
in replacing the standard 'debug messages' must software
designers place in their source code to help find bugs bv displaying
relevant internal program states and variables. The debugger lets
you examine any variable in any module or procedure call. The
only caveat is that module variables must be exported in order to be
visible to the debugger. By single-stepping through your source
20
Amazing Computing
o ] OPcbua : Pate
PI ODebug! Locals! larftatTmp
* RECORD ...
= V I lNIFflF.Rl
8h:9n"
TineStr - "89:«n"
■at I em -
■ : m. =
c [IDi 'bu'i^
= U I
nil = 8 t
hour- = 9 [
iday - 2 [
ninth -11 KIEGE
DOH
HTEOEtO -
NTEOER]
NT E. I.KR I
HTECER)
.tar » 19?4 IINTFnFRj
JdJU = 8 [INTEGER)
Figure 3: ODebug is a full-screen, source-
level debugger lets you examine any
variable in any module or procedure call
but the module variables must be
exported in order to be visible to the
debugger.
code, most other program errors can be found.
On more than one occasion, a combination of
these facilities have saved me countless hours of
agonizing over 'debug message' outputs when
attempting to pinpoint a particular software
problem.
Setting source-level breakpoints is a menu-
based, point-and-click operation much simpler
than in any other debugger I have used. The
debugger breakpoints have a statement-level
resolution which makes it easy to set a
breakpoint on just the 'a := b' statement in the
following source line:
IF a > b THEN a := b END;
Thus the breakpoint is only activated if 'a > b' becomes true. In
addition, boolean expressions (using Oberon-2 syntax) can be
explicitly added so that the breakpoint becomes active only if the
specified expression becomes true.
Other features allow you to change the type of displayed
variables, evaluate standard Oberon-2 expressions, modify
variables, show active or called procedures, and save displayed
variable values to an external file.
Other Tools
The compiler (Oberon) comes complete with a linker (OLink), an
editor (OEd), an error-reporting tool (OErr), and an interface
module generator (ModToDcf) which produces a summary of all
exported objects in the form of a ModuIa-2-like interface. The
debugger (ODebug) includes a make utility (OMake), a library
generator (LibLink) which produces Amiga-style libraries and
devices from Oberon-2 modules, a disassembler (DecObj) which
can handle object files and executable programs, and a cross
reference generator (XRef) which produces alphabetical listings of
the identifiers defined in a module.
Documentation
The complete documentation comprises a single four-ring binder
and includes both English and German documentation. The English
manual is for a previous version of the compiler; the German
manual contains the most up-to-date information. Each manual
contains installation instructions, descriptions of the command line
and menu items for each tool, discussions on writing efficient code
and explanations of the compiler's code generation strategies (most
interesting), module specifications for all the Oberon-2 modules
(more extensive in the German), and module specifications for
interfaces to the Amiga's operating system (only in the English
manual). Another difference between these two manuals is that the
garbage collector description (introduced in the current compiler
release) and associated package interface changes are only
described in the German manual.
Doth manuals are well-written and describe the essentials in
an efficient and sometimes sparse manner. The English manual
contains some translation errors but these are minor. What is more
ReMacePatter-ntl IMeStr, "an", pn ") :
DofljttPatttrndmtSlr, "a", "p )J
end;
ReplaceIntFattern(TineStr, "8s", DOU.s
END ForMatTitte:
(.* Need access to t iner device *)
HTIK 1 H > '
Rq.RlsorttTR » NIL, Nolin.r);
T.uase := rR. node. device;
Rq.ResertCT.nasc » NIL, NoTmer);
CLOSE
IF T.base (i NIL THEN
EKec .CloseDevtceCTRJ;
end;
END Date. __^_
an/pn -' >
(N ninutes si)
(# seconds *>
IE3IC
l"ai
<i>i«al
OPghimi Procedures currently »l g) I
' jDat e . I ornat I me
TTP *l >'■"!
I SI'S
-^
E St H Py UII I IHlIM Bl-r.UU Ja DTTTTTir —
j/Hppo int288race.ob js . info h.-l.-S
|gb_|/Rpptfl lamH 'mdow.objs Deleted
nil i . mjji. t :1 1 -ii ml I indowaobjs.infti Deleted
ob_j/fippotntHlndou.objs Deleted
'-bj/flppointMindou.Dbjs. info Deleted
> appo \ ntu Indou
UDobuq: Called procedures:
UstW indou . In it
ListH indou. Refresh
L istWi ndou. Render
flppo intWindow.DiLsplavScro I IL t ne
bate. rornalline
<] >\&
1FDJCS
^ <l>.*3
urgently needed is an English translation of the most recent
German manual. Until the distributors, A+L AG, do so, their North
American sales may suffer.
Ordering
Although both Swiss and German distributors exist for the Oberon-
2 compiler, there are no North American distributors. I ordered my
compiler through mail order and fortunately have not needed to
contact A+L AG for support. When ordering the compiler (270
SFr.) and debugger (180 SFr.), their English-speaking salesperson
was friendly and answered all my questions. A sore point with the
ordering process was that they require documented evidence of
your order and won't accept major credit cards. Thus, you either
have to FAX them an order form and transfer funds to their bank
account or mail in the order form along with an international
money order in Swiss Francs.
Summary
The Amiga Oberon-2 optimizing compiler is a robust tool which
implements the latest object-oriented technology in a language
which is easy to learn and produces small, efficient object code.
The linker is one of the best and its unused code removal results in
extremely small executables. The supplied editor's integrated
environment is on par with the best in the industry and has a full
compliment of ARexx commands. The full-screen, symbolic,
runtime debugger has more than paid for itself in the time saved in
hunting down bugs in record time. Although no up-to-date
English documentation is available, for most applications you'll
never have to use the manual. If you can live with the German-
language interface, this is one of the best integrated compiler
systems available for the Amiga.
•AC-
Oberon-2
A+L AG
Ddderiz 61
Ch-2540 Grenchen
Switzerland
+41/65/52 03 11 (telephone)
+41/65/52 03 79 (FAX)
Inquiry #216
September 1994
21
Take2
R. Shamms Mortier
As if you didn't know, the Amiga is a premier tool for artists and animators.
By far the most unique software written for the Amiga is also written by artists
and animators, often as a challenge to create the very tools they can't find any-
where else. Such is the case with the product which we will look at in this
article. It is an animator's tool written by an animator (Geert Vergauwe of
Rombo Productions) over a four year process, an animator who had no experi-
ence with programming before tackling this software.
What it is, What it does
Take2 is a special kind of Edit Decision List Processor (EDLP).
An EDLP is a piece of software that allows you to reconfigure and
manipulate frames in order to create a desired animation. In
addition, it acts as an animator's "Pencil Tester", and also has the
capability to target sound samples to specific frames in animation.
[1 can also play back the results of its manipulations, but only in
non-AGA modes can this be done while vou are recording the
results. So, in a sense, Take2 was created to be a kind of super
EDLP.
Take2 and Graphics
All of the graphics that Take2 addresses have to be created
outside of the program itself, in a paint program like Brilliance or
DPaint (no 24-bit art is allowed). I used several animations created
in DPaint to run some tests with Take2, The best thing about Takc2
is that you can composite layers (up to four} of art and animations.
There arc four main tracks that can be filled with selected single or
multiple frames. The back ground color of each can be addressed as
transparent, so that elements of succeeding art or animations shine
through. Each of the layers has to be in the same resolution, as well
as having the same palette and number of colors. Whatever non-24-
bit resolutions your system addresses will work. A list of all of the
frames (by number) is written to one of the selected four columns in
what Take2 calls an "exposure sheet".
Once loaded in, the whole business can be played back at 25
(PAL) or 30 (NTSC) frames a second (or at least as close to this as is
possible with your system) with the help of a "Flipper" module.
The playback is in grayscale. When all of the tracks are "merged"
(combined into one layer) and the result saved, the original
resolution is addressed for playback in a dedicated Amiga player.
A special feature called a "Frameboard" allows you to see each
frame as a small stamp, and to range back and forth through all of
the frames. This is one of Take2's nicest features.
Take2 is also meant to work in conjunction with the V1DI-
Amiga digitizer, as controls for this unit are built in. You can
digitize frames from any source, however, and after saving them
load them intoTake2 for animation processing. Frames listed on the
Exposure Sheet can be thoroughly edited at any time before or after
merging (cut, copy, paste, add), One useful aspect of the exposure
sheet is to allow you to multiply any single frame in an animation,
so that vou can freeze the playback at any desired spot.
Take2 and Sound
What would an animation be without sound? Take2 gives you
the ability to target any 8svx sample vou have to the frame of your
choosing, so that your character can sneeze and cough as desired,
exactly coincident with the visuals related to the sound. Samples
are loaded into the "Sample Panel", and as many as memory allows
can be selected from the load path. Then a special button can be
pressed to play a selected sample for preview, and any one of four
tracks can be selected to store the sample for playback to a specific
frame position in the animation. Selected samples can be removed
from both a soundtrack and /or from memory.
Take2 and Animation
Take2 allows you to load either animations or non-24-bit ILBM
single frames into any one of its four layers, and then to design a
unique animation from the way you manipulate these frames.
When an animation is loaded in, Take2 breaks it into single frames
and stores the whole business in memory, so users with small
amounts of memory need not applv for large animation tasks here.
Even with 16MB, I ran out of memory on several occasions trying to
develop large four layer animations. Users that work in Lo-res non-
overscan (which I have no interest in) should have better luck. After
culling and pasting eels and layers to your taste, the finished
animation can be saved out in three ways: as a compressed
animation that can be played back with any IFF player, as an
"XSheet" file (saving only the data paths that can be loaded into
Take2 in another session), or as a "Scene File" (which Take2's
animation stand-alone player can read and play). The advantage of
using Take2's player is that sound files will play as indicated, but
the ACA frames have the flashies. The advantage of saving the
animation out as a standard ANIM file is that it can be plavcd from
any standard player (like DPaint), but then you can't have (he
attached sounds.
What Take2 is not
Do not try to use Take2 as an ANIM viewer, especially in AGA
modes, as the results will be very disappointing. AGA flicker is all
present, whether in 256 colors or in F1AMK. This means that you
cannot tape the results of your scripting to a VCR from the
software. After saving out a Take2 animation, view the results in
DPaint or another viewing option. This is a very frustrating state,
since Take2 scenes offer you the capability to view and hear
animations that have been designed in the software, but watching a
flashing AGA animation is not very pleasant. The other option,
trying to save a merged animation, can also present you with "out
of memory" flags very quickly, especially when the frames are in
Hi-res and overscan. One way or the other, a better situation has to
be found.
With the "Scene Player" module accessed, I attempted to use it
to play a previously .saved scene. However, all I was able to view
was a strange 16 color transformation of mv overscan 256 color
2?
A mazixg Covin 1 1 SG
Scene: Unknour
18089264 bytes free
E3
Figure l . Here is a view of the Take2 Exposure Sheet and the four associated menus.
animation. You must, by the way, remember to develop animations
and pictures in resolution multiples of 64 for Take2. A horizontal
resolution of 704 will work fine. I was also able to track down
another irritating bug in DPaint bv using this rule. DPaint has its
own law, which is that it will not allow vou to input a c ustoin
horizontal resolution of 768 (64 higher than 704). 704 wide
animations will run fine in DPaint, whereas some other sizes cause
DPaint to crash and burn, just like non-64 wide frames cause
Tnke2's Scene player to choke. Why is the animation world
sometimes so complicated?
What Take2 Needs
It would be nice if the viewing capacities of Take2 did allow
you smooth access without AGA and HAM flicker. That way, you
could tape directly from the program. I would also like to see a
realtime reversal mechanism, allowing you to reverse ANIMs on
the spot (of course, looping and ping-ponging would be required as
well). 1 also think that the identifying graphics thai are associated
with editing buttons are far too arcane and non-standard. Why not
use a big "X" for removing frames or eels, as an ex ample, instead
of a meaningless box? It's better to have text identifiers on buttons
than graphics that are only used in one program. Take2 has severe
problems in memorv allocation and management. I ran it on an A-
4000 with !6MBof RAM and 2MBof Chip RAM. S couldn't merge
more than an 8 frame animation (256 color overscan). The secret
that I learned is to make sure you continuously flush out the system
before going on to merge frames. Remember, Take2 turns all frames
in an ANIM into single frames and stores Ihem in memorv, eating
up all available RAM very quickiy. If you work in non-AGA modes.
Take2 is kinder. But who wants to do professional work in either a
limited palette or resolution any more? Surely a better and more
efficient compositing and storage operation for AGA modes can be
implemented without making excessive calls on RAM.
On the Positive Side
Take2 has a lot going for it. The way that it targets sound to
frames, the ways it allows vou to take different animations and
composite them in alternate layers, and the general principles that it
offers the Amiga animator as far as constructing composite
animations easily from series of separate pieces. I think that given
the possibility that work on this software will continue, and that
these suggested revisions might he taken seriously by the developer
{as well as other suggestions for improvement from other user
sources), the next major version of the software should be far
superior to this one. If you are a beginning animator then you
might find Take2 a worthwhile investment as far as learning
various editing processes and terminology is concerned. As for me,
! will be waiting along with manv of the rest of you, and promise to
take a second look at a Take2 upgrade in the (hopeful) near future.
•AC*
Take2
MSLP; $99.95
Rombo Productions
Batrd road, Kirkton Campus Livingston
West Lolhian EH54 7AZ England
Inquiry #243
Figure 2. The special Take2 "Flipper" module has a standard VCR interface, allowing you lo view your animations as you
redesign them.
September 1994
23
A 2D Animation Project
by R. Shamms Mortier
f j ■ I ■
Eight figures in a crowd. . . .
When you operate a computer graphics and animation business,
the pressure to meet unreasonable deadlines is the same today as it
has always been in the field of graphics. There never seems to be
enough time from the initiation of a task to its expected conclusion
and delivery. It is this anxiety laden pressure that makes you aware
very quickly about the value of your tools, especially if you are work-
ing with computers.
Poor hardware and software shows its true colors very fast
under the pressures of a deadline. That package vou bought
because of some advertised hype might he the same one that fails
the test of reality when the job has to be delivered the next day.
Unintuitive software, whether poorly documented or suffering an
interface that only a nuclear engineer can decipher, is filed away
after a negative experience under the pressure of a job that must be
done in a short time, never to be seen again. What vou think a
package can do and how valuable it is under fire narrows your
realizations concerning the choices and purchases you will make in
the luture.
I own hundreds of Amiga programs, and among those are
even' graphics and animation package ever produced for our
beloved svstem. Before I had a selection of this software ported to
my hard disks however, there was a telltale way to discern which
ones were the most valuable. This was by gauging the "smudge
factor". The deeper and grittier the thumb smudge on the disk
label, sometimes wearing away the label itself in spots, the more
vital the program was in my work. Constant removal to and from
the drive deposited this badge of value no matter how clean my
thumb was. Over the vears, the package with the most smudges on
the floppy has been Electronic Arts' DPaint. Proof of the digital
pudding.
24
A ma ZING Com Pi TING
What you think a
package can do and
how valuable it is
under fire narrows
your realizations
concerning the
choices and
purchases you will
make in the future.
The Chittenden County Transportation Authority
The Chittenden County Transportation Authority
operates the buses in Burlington, Vermont (Burlington is in
Chittenden County). Their marketing director and publicist
was asked to do a weekly TV show on transportation issues
for a regional cable station. The Amiga has a long and
honored history already with the cable channel as a text and
graphics workstation, and it was known that I also had a
long and obsessive reputation as an Amiga graphics and
animation producer via my Amiga-enhanced studio. Two
weeks before I was to embark on a musical tour of Russia,
the marketing director came to me with the need to have a
finished animation In hand that would be used as an
opening for the show. She needed finished product on tape
before 1 left. As with most creative projects that come my
way, I was openly excited and internallv a bit anxious.
In the best of cases, the commercial work that a
videographics artist is asked to do may combine the joy of
creative freedom with the elation that comes from getting
paid for the efforts involved. This is not often true, so that
when it's possible, the artist usually jumps at the chance.
This was such a case.
[ always tell my graphics students that "Creative
Listening" is the first skill that a graphics professional learns
to sharpen. Listen carefully to every nuance of your client's
description of a project, and storyboard ideas will appear
from the void. In our conversations, the title of the show,
"In Transit", kept coming up as a focus for the visual work.
In a flash, the outlines of a rough storyboard came to mind. I
visualized a group of people waiting as if at a bus stop.
(continued on page 29)
~7~\
^A *"
P§^'P C - E
Figure 1 (Page 24). The original "crowd" scene that opens the animalion.
Figure 2 (Top). In A to F, you can see how six of the individual individuals
move off the screen.
Figure 3 (Middle). G and H call attention to the Flying Saucer departure,
while I to L show the use of DPaint morphs as transilions.
Figure 4 (Bottom). Here we can see how the "In Transit" title is animated
and used.
Septum bf.r 1994
want quality, but it must be economical. Finally, and most important...you have to find a service
bureau that recognizes your AMIGA file formats. Your search is over. Give us a call!
We'll imageset your AMIGA graphic files to RC Laser Paper or Film at 2400 dpi (up to 154 lpi)
at a extremely competitive cost. Also available at competitive cost are quality Dupont
ChromaCheck™ color proofs of your color separations/films. We provide a variety of pre-press
services for the desktop publisher.
Who are we? We are a division of PiM Publications, the publisher of Amazing Computing for the
Commodore AMIGA. We have a staff that really knows the AMIGA as well as the rigid
mechanical requirements of printers/publishers. We're a perfect choice for AMIGA DTP
imagesetting/pre-press services.
We support nearly every AMIGA graphic & DTP format as well as most Macintosh™ graphic/DTP formats.
For specific format information, please call.
or more information call 1-800-345-3360
Just ask for the service bureau representative.
Studio 16 3.0 and the AD516 Board
from Sunrize Industries
By R. Shamms Mortier
Simplicity. ..that's what's important at this stage of the game. Give me something
that works according to some measure of standards that I'm used to on the computer
screen. No arcane icons or bewildering instructions, and you've got a solid convert
and a probable purchaser of your wares. The first tipoff that a program is headed in
the right direction as far as clarity of operation and even depth of use is interface
design. Does it look like an easy to understand list of options in its menus? Does its
design fit into the enhanced 3D WorkBench look of 2.x and above? Can I get some-
where through common sense without even cracking the manual? These are the
things I require at this point from software, no matter what the platform or the use.
Studio 16's Immediate Impressions
Great interface design and clarity were the first things th.it 1
noticed when I ran tin- 10 version of Ibis software. It was obvious
that there were features and options to he studied, vet I was able to
do quite a lot without reading anything hut the "how to install"
section of the new manual. I was immediately seduced to explore
further. Installation of both the hardware and software, bv the way,
was a snap. The AD516 board pops easily Into an open Amiga slot
I Xorro il or 111), .ind the software installation process (1 always
choose the "expert user" option) was a greased realitv as well. Just
>o you know, I tested this product out on an Amiga 2000 with
4MB of RAM and a standard 68000 processor. That's the onlv place
in mv four-Amiga network that I had an open slot, and the Amiga
that I used is reserved for music and sound production. Later on,
just to compare things, I tested it on my Amiga 41)00 (16MB of Fast
RAM and a 68040) as well.
Playing and Editing Samples from Stored Libraries
The software is able to grab sound libraries across a local area
network just tine in order to edit them. I use an InterVVork's
ENLAN-DFS LAN system with the ASDC ROVERNET boards. I
tried to load and edit a 16-bit sample from the Toccata Samplitude
softu are (the sample used as a default with the software), but
couldn't really tweak it to play correctly. I called Sunrize, and was
quickly routed to the lech department, where I was walked through
the needed process. It turns out that instead of "Resampling" the
sound, 1 needed merely to access the Sound Parameters section
under "Options", and reset the rate. A word about the Toccata
default music file by the way. It is a RAW data file, and a small
clicking sound at (he end of its playback on the AD516 reminds you
of that. The click is the file header info being read. RAW files have
to be translated into Studio2.0 format before they can be parameter
edited. The file header click has to be cut out in order tor the
sample to be looped correctly without the constant click.
Rolling your own: Recording Tracks
Recording data to RAM as a read-write musical interlude is
OK as long as you have lots of RAM and vour sequence is short. A
typical ten second sequence can take a couple of megs, however, so
RAM is good as far as testing some parameters, but not as a
nonlinear solution for the final piece. For that you'll need a hard
drive with a lot of memory (I'd recommend a 500MB drive
dedicated to the use of Studio 16 samples alone, and at least 16
megs of fast RAM in addition). Make sure it's a good drive, loo, as
there will be excessive reading and writing, as well as erasing. Your
drive and controller should be the sturdiest you can get for a Studio
16 system, and fast, too. 1 think the best situation might he an
Amiga 3000 or 3000 Tower, because of its fast built-in SCSI
capabilities.
The first step in the recording process is to tell Studio 16 where
the data will be stored, an easy enough task (just make sure there's
lots of room on the partition or drawer you pick. Next, you would
turn on the "Monitor" in the Recorder (see Figure 1, bottom left
section). Then you name the data-to-be in the same requester, and
hit "Record". Your hard disk begins to whirr away, waiting for
data, and stops when you tell it to. An on-screen display tells you
how much space remains on the drive selected for storage. You can
connect either a mixer enhanced device (microphone or acoustic
instrument) to the mono or stereo inputs on the back of the ADFl 6,
Studio 1t il 1991-1994 SunRIZ* tnawttrlt* 3.00
HBFl! Lot
Cirtoonflut ic
Cr«»h
Cutkoo
Figure 1 . The Studio 16 Recorder is at the bottom left,
surrounded by a selection of other requesters.
S t: r i i:\tni: h 1994
27
■Li- ill V!-M iti-S SunftlT* Irmrtrifr 3 . M
1 ^J^f
Mv nn, ;
Stop
1 £h«Mi 01 1 1 Ranq* HI 1
She
u R»ng|
7h
In
Z* Out 1
Figure 2. It's easy to design the Studio 16 screen to your liking.
Editing samples is made visual with the Studio 16 graphic
editing interface.
or you can connect a stand alone device (like a synth with a line
out). 1 connected a Casio SK-5 sampling keyboard for these tests,
and the results knocked my boots off — socks included. With a little
tweaking of the volume and sampling levels, 1 was able to record
the exact sonority of what the instrument produced. Next, I tried a
microphone through a mixer as well as a wooden flute — awesome
playback of every breath! Just think about the possibilities, acoustic
instruments and vocals mixed with synthesized tracks.
The last step is that of taking separate tracks and mixing them
together for a finished playback and recording the results to any
desired medium. By the way, the AD516 and Studio 16 reads/
writes SMPTE time code, so using a deck like mine (the Sanyo GVR
S950) is made all the easier. Studio 16 track editing is the more
complicated of the Studio 16 processes, but with a little study of the
manual, it can be achieved with professional results.
Anomalies
While exploring the capability of the AD51 6/ A2000 environ-
ment with this software/hardware, 1 was able to crash the system a
good many times. Though it didn't happen the same way twice, it
could have been a low memory situation (it never crashed on my
A4000). It happened once when I had added eight separate sound
file paths to test various samples, and occurred most frequently
when I was recording to RAM. This may have been too much for
arlooc ' , Untitle 'r 1 .
Figure 3. This represents what a typical screen might look like
during a Studio 16 edit-track session.
the software to bear, especially considering that 1 was working with
only about 2.3 megs of RAM as a playfield after the software loaded
in. It would be good, however, to have a kinder, gentler way of
allowing the user to know that low memory is approaching.
Wishes
The "ReSample" process should have an escape key interrupt.
The process can take a long time (a few minutes) and some way of
escaping from it should be implemented just in case you change
your mind. There should be some way of doing nondestructive
editing when the samples are eight bit KSVX format. Compared to
the MacroSystems' Toccata board and the Samplitude software, the
AD516 needs some more options in this area. 1 would also love to
see a way of getting a picture in picture graphic display integrated
into this system (perhaps in conjunction with the VLab or another
genlock unit), that was retargetable according to the 24-bit cards a
user might have. This would make insert editing much easier. The
Studio 16 "Recorder" window needs some sort of advance
countdown option that ticks off a user selectable amount of time
(matonnmo) hrfnrr rornri.Hi.nc> hiHTJnn
Sunrize has obviously put in a lot of time
and effort upgrading this package on a
constant and consistent basis, and their
efforts should be applauded.
Conclusions
The user is cautioned that this is an audio nonlinear editing
package, and as such there are constant read/writes from and to
the hard drive. Make sure you have a good drive, a good drive
controller, and as much RAM as possible. Cooperation and
handshaking with the Blue Ribbon SoundWorks One-Stop-Music-
Shop on-board synth is superlative, especially through the Bars and
Pipes Pro software. You can store your B&P tracks to disk for real-
time playback and editing. There are two new (upgraded) B&P
accessories included in the package: SunMTE (which converts the
time code to make B&P and Studio 16 handshake more effectively)
and SunSet (which allows B&P to open Studio 16 modules on the
B&P screen).
Sunrize has obviously put in a lot of time and effort upgrading
this package on a constant and consistent basis, and their efforts
should be applauded. The Amiga is a great music platform, a point
that gets little enough attention. But the Amiga's 8 bit sound engine
is woefully inadequate in this 16bit sound age, and until the Amiga
5000 comes out (!) with 16 bit sound capacity, third party 16bit
hardware/software will have to suffice. Hie fact that the Amiga can
boast of having the development support of a package as high end
intended as this should cause those with serious sound applications
in mind to sit up and take notice. 'AO
Suggested manufacturer's Retail Prices:
For the entire ADS 16 and Studio 1 6 3.0 software- $1495.00
For upgrading the software to Studio 16 3.0 alone- $249.00
For trading up to an AD516 package from the AD1012 (Studio
16 3.0 software included)- $995.00
Sunrize Industries
2959 Winchester Blvd., 2nd Floor
Campbell, CA 95008
(406) 374-4962
(408) 374-4963 FAX
Inquiry #241
28
Amazing Computing
(continued from page 25)
Onc-by-one, each individual left the screen by different modes of
locomotion. I explained the idea to the marketing director, and
she agreed to its principle composition. Now it was time to do
the work, and my immediate realization was that DPaint would
allow me to do exactly what was on my mind.
The Project
Unless you are working with an ACA machine (which at
that time 1 wasn't), you have got to plan Amiga animations with
definitive resolutions and the limited quantity of colors in mind.
Playback speed and recording (unless you're working with a
single-frame recording system) are effected by both resolution
and number of colors. 1 visualized this animation design as
being necessarily limited in colors to achieve the look I wanted,
so I chose a simple 8-color hi-res overscan as my electronic
canvas.
1 wanted the figures to be basic without too much detail,
somewhat childlike and cartoony but clean. All of the figures
were created with a one-pixel black outline, and filled with a
medium gray. 1 designed each separately and saved each out as
a brush. This allowed me to use each brush as the basis for an
ANIMbrush later in the piece. I and all other Amiga animators
she's bouncing morph into a horse, which she then rides off. A
woman catches a ride on a passing sailboat, while another woman
uses a pogo stick to exit. A rather large elderly man is abducted
out of the picture by a passing flving saucer. Allow me to pause
here for a moment and explain some of the special ways that
some ol these actions were created.
DPaint has an excellent 2D morphing mode, so it was fairly
easy to morph the girl's bouncing ball into a horse. My company,
Eyeful Tower Communications, markets a series of disks of
ANIMbrushes based upon the famous Muybridge turn-of-the-
eentury animation studies, one of which is a horse. I adapted this
horse for the animal the girl rides off on. The lady that mounts
and rides the pogo stick was created with a bit of humor. As the
stick bounces, her head can be seen to leave her body at times as a
response. The flying saucer was designed in 3D with the help of
ADSPEC Programming's Aiaddin-4D software. It was created in
1 [i-Res K color shading, and u hen purled to tin DPaint palette,
each of the dithered colors was replaced by the colors in the
palette of the animation, giving it a surreal metallic sheen as it
wobbles, This multi-colored element was a nice contrast to the
Otherwise fairly monotone look used in the first two-thirds of the
piece.
Now for the last two actors. First, each was morphed into a
person riding in a car with an angry countenance. The cars were
I always tell my graphics students that
"Creative Listening" is the first skill that a
graphics professional learns to sharpen. Listen
carefully to every nuance of your client's
description of a project, and storyboard ideas
will appear from the void.
that 1 know will always be in debt to Electronic Arts for
initiating the concept of ANIMbrushes in the DPaint software.
ANIMbrushes allow you to design and save massive libraries of
animated figures, choreographed 2D actors that can be placed
on the stage at any time. This makes animators joyous, because
these actors are always "on call" for other animations. The eight
characters 1 designed for this animation formed a perfect mixed
group for the project, male and female of all ages and dress
styles. Mixed racial characteristics were not an issue since facial
features and skin color were not apparent.
I actually took the basic figures and designed two
ANIMbrushes for each. The first ANIMbrush was used to make
them jostle around a bit while grouped together, and the second
was used to put them "In Transit", that is, modes of transporta-
tion for leaving the scene. The modes of transport were very
different for each of the first six (I'll discuss the last two in a bit).
A little baby floats off the screen while clinging to a balloon. A
young boy rides off on a red bike. A young girl has the ball
then set against each other in a competitive little scenario. From
there, both cars morphed together into a CCTA bus, complete
with smiling passengers. The reason for this is that one of the
themes of the show is to demonstrate that public transportation
can help to alleviate the stress levels experienced by automobile
drivers. On the side of the bus is a sign that reads "In Transit", the
name of the program. The sign spins off of the bus and gets larger,
while the bus leaves the screen in a three pass path, getting
smaller as it moves into the distance. Only the title remains at the
end. Oh, yes, 1 forgot to tell you. The payment for this animation
bought my Winter wood supply for 1994. Enjoy! See you in
ROMulan space...
•AC-
Please Write to:
Shamms Mortier
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fail River, MA 02722-2140
September 1994
29
Aladdin-4D: Tutorial #9
By R. Shamms Mortier
The "big boys", those computer platforms that are ten times the cost and
speed of the Amiga, offer their users an array of tools that we seldom associate
with desktop computing. After all, they have access to the quantities of
memory and processing speed that few desktop artists and animators can
dream about. But creativity is a funny thing. It seems to find a way through
the smallest doorway, and to turn the tables on the expected.
That is the qualify of the creative programming initiated tor
the Aladdin-4D software from ADSPFC Programming, and
especially by the head man himself.. .Greg Gorby. Every time a new
update of Aladdin-41) hits the shelves, it contains more "impos-
sible" tools. Such was certainly the case when 3.0 was released. One
of the newest features of A4D 3.0 is the introduction of a "big boys"
type of cloning tool, known by the name of "Instancing".
Instancing is like cloning with an attitude. In cloning an object,
we expect to see its twin on the screen, so we can move the
duplicate object anywhere in space and tell it to do something
entirely different than its parent. When we instance an object, that
object must first be assigned to a path, because it is in the Path
requester that the command structure for instancing resides. With
instancing, we become involved in the cloning of object ghosts, and
the ghosts are wed to the same path as the parent object, so
whatever the path tells the initial object to do is also an instruction
for all of the initial object's instanced ghosts. There is more to it
Hun tli.it, however, since r.u h n|" I lie ghosts t an be related to the
initial object by differing incremental spaces and times. In this way,
an initial object can seem to give birth to its instanced ghosts over
time, and they can literally grow out of the parent object (and also
disappear back into it again as well).
The Instancing Control menu
Take a careful look at Figure 2, because the tremendous power
of magic instancing is controlled by these seemingly simple input
areas. Let's walk through this menu and describe what these
commands do. The first area you see at the top says "Number".
This is where you tell the computer how many copies of the object
it should make. Under that is an area called "Offset Time" with
Entry and Exit input areas. We'll get to that in a moment. Next,
we'll pay attention to the XY7. Entry/Exit areas named "Offset".
These are very important, for they tell the rendering engine how far
apart and in what relative plane the newly cloned (instanced)
objects are to be from each other. Setting Entry numbers at zero and
Exits at some number of distance units (say 20,11(10) will mean that
all objects will start in the same coincident space as the parent
object and then emerge out of it over time, in whatever direction
you have indicated (X,Y,Z). If you're sitting next to vour Amiga
with Aladdin 4D 3.x running, just play with these options for
awhile to get the hang of what's happening. Then let's investigate
the other input areas in this menu.
Below the XYZ spatial unit areas there are XYZ Entry/Exit
inputs for "Rotation". You can probably guess that these cause the
instanced objects to rotate in whatever plane is indicated, and that
■ Jjiiiminmnj
"■'■■
:,: ::::::::;■;;
rsvi m
<m<zi
utritlUn.**
jqj
Figure 1. Here we see a simple linear path and a rectangle
thai has been assigned to move by following it. Normally, we
would expect to see the rectangle moving up and down
along the path, but that's before we apply the magic of
instancing in Aladdin-4D.
ai(;.l I 1*4*. I
Offset X C
Of f *-t Y- ,
Off »«t Z...-L
8i>t At r X....C
tt»t.i* Y.-,,C
R©t*i« *. . . .l:
3T^ d
22c3j±J"
^Ll_kJ
M
m
thiyiw-tf
rot»tt,i *
mcm*m.» m
«»«'■—' *
""ft""
flue
•. |r rt.l. „..,
jaj
Figure 2. The Instance Control menu is accessed from the Path
Control requester, and remains selected after you have
configured it to your liking. Here we have set the "number" of
items to 10, the "Offset Time" to 1000, and the Offset X and Z
to 8000 and 90000 respectively. To see what the resulling
animation looks like, see Figure 3. (Entry rotation of the box
around the X plane has been set to 360 degrees).
30
Amazisg Computing
*
-*-
fl
Frame 1
l'i amrl 5
Frame 28
Frame 45
I'i amc 55
>
Frame 60
$
^
>
c.
/v
l : i anie 5
.--
*► I
Frame J 5
S
Pi a me ! 5
£
■
Frame 45
Frame 25
Frame 55
Figure 3. With the settings indicated in Figure 2, the simple
rectangle now becomes an animated collection of
rectangular shapes.
different Entry values from Exit values will cause the instanced
objects to rotate in those planes accordingly. Experiment with these
settings and watch the results, Now let's return to the "Offset
Time" indicators for Entry and Exit values. The numbers entered
here divide up the time that action is applied to the number of
instanced objects involved. A number of "4" as an example will
cause 4 objects to start their movements 25% different from one
another. The numbers get a bit more complex as the relationship
between the Offset Time and Number of instanced objects gets
larger, but the important thing is getting a feel for what's happen-
ing through experimentation, and keeping a journal of the results in
language vou understand.
CSpline variations
You will notice that there is a small CSpline (Control Spline)
indicator at the right side of the "Number" area in the Instancing
Control menu. Aladdin 4D has CSpline toggles almost everywhere.
Figure 4. Just by changing the settings in the Instancing menu,
the same rectangle now takes on a different animated
personality. (Rotation of 360 around the X and Z, and
Instancing settings as follows: Offset Time Exit= 10000, Offset Z
Exit= 150000, Rotate X & Y on Entry=360).
A CSpline is a line, straight or curved, that allows you to control the
way actions take place over time. You can make objects speed up or
slow down by manipulating the CSplines attached to their actions.
The CSpline in the Instancing Control area is used to alter the time
that instancing actions take place. You bring up CSplines, and the
ability to load and save them, by activating this toggle.
Instancing and Memory
The results of instancing can only be seen when you preview
an animation (F9 key). Otherwise, your editing screen will only
show Paths and singular parent objects. There is a great time and
storage saving because of this. You can save out a project at very
little disk sp.u e expensi . becau it the complications :n\ olved n
instanced objects are saved .is directions, not as polygons. How-
ever, there is a price. Rendering time is not saved. When rendering,
the computer has to render each separate instanced object as a
whole, so that twenty instanced objects are twenty objects to be
Figure 5. This single
Napoleonic Warrior was
sculpted in A!addin-4D.
September 1994
31
Figure 6. Here, merely by instancing the animated figure on a
planar surface, the single warrior becomes a whole army.
rendered, complete with whatever textures and surface properties
are involved. Rendering can take a long time, and unaccelerated
Amigas should not be used. However, I have discovered a gentler
kinder way...
Eureka!
Aladdin 4D has the capacity to allow you to use animated
single frames as textures, an application lh.it has many uses. You
can also texture map animated single frames to a transparent plane,
so that animations may be placed in different areas of 3D space so
that other animations can be seen "in back of" and "in front of"
The magic FOUNTAIN
"Fountain" is the name of A4D's new particle animation
system. It is the most extensive and full-featured of any
particle animation system in use today, except perhaps on the
very very expensive high-end machines. Particle animation
allows vou to create animated organic effects like flowing
water and gases, and because A4D's fountain utilizes texture
mapping as well (including animated texture maps), the
effects possible arc limitless and potentially bounded only by
the creative instincts of each user.
The FOUNTAIN Requester
We will cover the methods of creating A4D particle
animations in a tutorial fashion in the one of the next
Amazing A4D tutorials. For now, just take a look at the
extensiveness of the Fountain requester in Figure 7. Look
intimidating? Don't worry, once you get a grasp on the basic
features, you'll be able to generate astounding results, and
the basics are what our A4D tutorial on Fountain objects will
be all about.. .as well as some interesting experiments that
will take you deeper into the Fountain realm. Nothing
resembling the usefulness and depth of A4D's particle
svstem is found on an}' other platform or in anv other Amiga
software. With it, and some of your favorite texture maps,
you can create believable other world organic effects.
Figure 7. Just take a look at the extensiveness of the Fountain
requester.
them. This has great meaning when doing instancing animations
that involve dozens or even hundreds of objects on screen. To
render all of these 3D objects by using the instancing method
alone would require lots and lots of rendering time and lots and
lots of RAM. My discovery can be explained in two steps.
First, animate a single object the way you want it to move.
Save out the animation as single frames (not as an ANIM5). Then
set up a planar surface in the edit screen. Use instancing to get the
surfaces to move as you want your 3D objects to move by using
the Instancing Control menu. Now (and here's the magic!), map
the animation frames to the plane that you instanced, and set the
plane to transparent (reference the A4D manual to learn how to
do this). What's the result? Figure 5 shows a single soldier that 1
constructed and animated in a marching position (marching in
place). Figure 6 shows the same soldier as a whole army.
Rendering time was very fast, because only textured planar
surfaces were being rendered, not entire 3D objects. Flocks of
birds, armies of cavalry, and many other groupings could take
advantage of the same process.
Limitations of my method
As long as the planes that are animation texture mapped
move in a linear fashion, there is no problem. When they turn in
3D space, however, their "depth" will become abbreviated.
Unless you want this effect (and you may), the mapped planes
have to stay parallel to the cameras point of view. If you want 3D
objects to move on convoluted 3D paths, then full instancing is
probably the way to go.
Stay tuned. There are lots more Aladdin-4D tutorials
coming. ..especially since version 3.2 has just hit the streets.
F.NJOY! See you in ROMulan space.
Aladdin-4D is a product of ADSPFC Programming 1405
North Ellsworth Salem, Ohio 44460 (216) 337-1329
•AC'
Please Write to:
R. Shamms Moriier
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fall River, MA 02722-2140
:>-i
Amazing Computing
Panorama 3.0
reviewed fey R. Shawms Mortter
As far as fractal scene generators and animators go, I was of the opinion
for a long time that the two that have addressed the Amiga for quite a while
now (Scenery Animator from Natural Graphics and Vista-Pro from Virtual
Reality Labs, Inc.) were quite enough for anyone needing to produce excel-
lent scenic output for fun and /or profit. My thought was that each of these
two excellent packages had addressed most, if not all, of the necessary vari-
ables that any Amiga artist/animator would ever require. I was hoping, in a
way, that AmiGadget's Panorama software would be just another clone of
one of the two other packages, making my job as a writer less complicated,
and leaving my scenic work as an Amiga artist in previous comfortable
software environments. I was wrong.
I should never forget that the Amiga developers are a clever
collection of individuals, a club with optimum open architecture,
meaning that there is always room for new approaches. It is this
very vibrancy and competition that assures all of us that no single
piece of hardware or software is going to have the absolute "last
word", no matter how much the PR of any vendor stresses the
point- It also means that dedicated Amiga programmers are going
to be continuously challenged to push their wares into realms
considered impossible in the present, far past the boundaries that
were considered as "final" edges. All of this happens because some
individual sees a product and says "I can do that better" or "I can
do that differently". Each lime this happens, the Amiga product
consumer benefits. In the case of Panorama 3.0, the Amiga artist
and animator are treated to a whole bucket of new alternatives in
the realm of Amiga scenerv generators and animation engines.
Figure l.Top L&R: The
Panorama Main Interface
and the Side View
pacement. Bottom L&R: The
Trees Requester and Wave
parameters selector.
Sl.PTIi.MRER 1994
33
Figure 2. Top L&R: By changing the
colors and shadows, any scene
can lake on new properties.
Bottom L&R: Closeups reveal more
detail, and Panorama's trees look
like small zen paintings.
Figure 3. By taking a Panorama
view from a 90 degree angle high
above the scene, you can render
a view that can later be
spherically mapped on a
revolving planet (this painting was
accomplished with Aladdin-4D
and OpalVision in addition to
Panorama),
Different Strokes
TIil' other two Amiga fractal sccnerv program*, arc much
closer to each other as far as interfaces and general operations go
than they are related to Panorama. The differences begin with
Panorama's main interface, and the way one accesses parameter
options in a scene prior to rendering. There is more emphasis upon
user defined variables and upon graphic manipulation of created
scene boundaries- Let's look at some "for instances".
Panorama gives the user something we didn't even think of
asking for, but once exposed to is identified as an absolute
need — color wireframe previews. Each of the competitor's
packages supply us with preview renders, but Panorama's super-
fast wire frame preview (colored as to scene component, like water,
cliff, snow, etc.) gives a belter feel for what the actual finished
render will look like.
As one who espouses that all Amiga visual designware should
give over maximum variable control to the user, as opposed to
keeping l hoices locked up in a few menu options, Panorama i omes
closer to this wish than its competition. The more user choices the
better as far as I'm concerned. Panorama offers more than the
standard ability to change a few colors, for instance, by offering
many more palette variables (of course, you only see the results of
this in 24-bit). Another example can be found in the "Trees"
requester. Here, you can choose from two different trees just as in
the competition (a deciduous and a conifer), but there are place-
men! variables that can be set so that all six are of any mix of the
two types (e.g.., six conifers or three of each...). The color of any of
these six can be altered to your heart's desire. Want a Fall scene?
Just make all of the trees Oaks and vary the coloration from yellows
to reds. Not only that, but you can alter leaf and bark textures, pixel
34
A mazing Computing
density, size, and spacing as well.
The cliff slope angle (five separate settings) and curvature bias
can be altered. Cliff edges can be fuzzy, diffuse or sharp. The
texture of the cliff can also be changed. Contouring and shadow
dither can be altered as well. The six cliff contour settings have
separate tree groupings assigned, and the parameters of each group
can be separately edited. The water in a lake or ocean can have
realistic waves set as to amplitude, frequency, shape, phase,
spacing height and more. The water can have any color you desire,
and there is even a tutorial for creating lava lakes. Sky reflections
can also be calculated and added. Attention: Wave phase value can
be animated, making the water move!
Another unique Panorama option is the addition of ground
haze to a picture (any elevation and transparency you desire).
Attention again: Haze density and height can be animated, causing
clouds of fog and haze to dissipate in the sun. The aesthetic impact
of mist in a mountain valley cannot be underestimated.
Intuitive placement of the "camera" is facilitated by a two-
view system, again unique to Panorama. The normal top view can
be instantly toggled via a right-mouse click to a side view, and the
camera moved in real time. I find this much easier than using
numerical equivalents for camera position/angle settings, though
these are available as well.
Renders
If you need to have Amiga render options like 256 color AGA
or HAMS, much less, more esoteric options like DCTV, then
Panorama is probably not for you. In Hi-Res, Panorama puts out a
16 color view, while Lo-Res ups the palette ante to the normal 32
(no matter if you run it on a 4000 or a suped-up 1000). These
screens are pretty awful as far as color and clarity goes, but you
may save them if you like. Panorama's finished renders are really
targeted to IFF 24-bil files.
After a view is finished rendering, you can save it to the IFF
resolution checked or (providing the 24-bit render option is toggled
on) you can save it as a full 24-bit file and view it in a 24-bit paint
program. I looked at the results of my efforts using OpalVision. 1
would hope that in the future Panorama becomes fully retargetable,
and addresses all of the Amiga AGA modes as well as a good
number of the most popular boards directly.
There is a function that allows you to transform a rendered
frame into a standard HAM pic (with a nice antialiasing routine
included), but this is no longer the way most Amiga artist/
animators work. As far as the 24-bit renders, it would also help to
have on-board JPEG saving options.
What about the renders themselves? How do they compare to
the competition? The short answer is that they are far more
variable, so that their actual appearance depends upon your
familiarity with making the proper changes. What 1 have noticed is
that the light seems to play much more realistically upon the
rendered surfaces, especially when those surfaces are made to be
sharp and the "sun" is positioned at angles that enhances certain
shadows. Everything is geared to 24-bit display, so you cannot see
many of the rendering details until you load the picture into a 24-
bit: viewer (a draw back).
Shadowing, however, extends convincingly over water areas
as well as land, and (very important!) since the Sun's elevation
angle and the "sun contrast" and "shadow contrast" can be varied
from one keyframe to the next, the shadows in your animation can
move convincingly over the terrain and water in the landscape!
Because rendering an animation and saving it means saving
24-bit frames, you are going to need a pretty fat hard drive to store
a lengthy animation. That should be redressed, allowing the user to
save ANIM files in 256 color or HAMS, or better yet, saving ANIMs
as DCTV components. Otherwise, you'll have to take all the 24-bit
single frames and translate them using ADPro, ImagcFX,
ImageMaster, DPaint, or Brilliance. Other options would be to use
an alternate viewer/organizer. This is not an efficient way to get
storable ANIM files, unless you own and operate a single-frame
recorder and the necessary hardware to address it.
As for extreme close-up renders, panorama needs more work
on the blocky areas that are treeless and waterless. These areas need
to be more suited to close-up viewing, Trees, on the other hand,
look extremely well done, like miniature Japanese watercolors. I am
sure some sort of fill algorithm could be used to give the blocky
areas more discernible and variable texture.
Conclusions
There is a separate program in Panorama called "GeoKama",
used to import and glue together DEM files. I wish Panorama (and
its competitors as well) would stick to a common DEM format, so
everyone's files would address all the programs (but there's lots of
money to be made, I guess, in marketing proprietary formats). At
first glance, it seems that rendering times in Panorama are severely
longer than in other scene Tenderers, until you remember that 24-bit
toggled on means that it is drawing to the screen and saving all of
the 24-bit parameters to memory at the same time. If you are going
to run the "F-10" demo and are dragging the program to your hard
disk manually (instead of using the Install program), be sure and
"Show All" icons first, as the test data and the F-10 data are hidden.
The present Recursion (detailing) levels of 1-5 should be considered
for expansion in the next upgrade if possible (either a higher
recursion parameter or more variance within the present scheme).
This program is a natural for retargetability in the future. The
interface can use a visible 24-bit toggle button and a "Draw" button
as well. The "sun" should be allowed movement interactively as
well as through menu/numerical choices, and its direction should
be more open to user control. One last request, how about adding
the ability to morph between selected keyframes over a period of
time?
I tested this program on an Amiga 4000 with 16MB RAM. The
pictures were rendered in 24-bit, displayed to OpalVision via the
ENLAN-DFS software and the ASDG Rover-Net board, and
resaved in JPEG for later use. Like the other packages, the Pan-
orama people sell their own DEM file disks of various locations,
priced competitively with their peers. If you like and/or need to
play with scene generator/animators for any reason, then add this
to your list of possibilities.
•AC*
Panorama 3.0
List Price $89.95
AmiGadget Publishing Company
4026D Roe Young Blvd
West Columbia, SC 291 70
(803)957-1106
Inquiry #215
September 1994
Video Transitions using ARexx
by Jason R- Hardy
Writing a script may seem like an imposing task at first,
but if it is broken down into a few concise sections
the task becomes much easier.
Art Department Professional is one of the most powerful tools for
professional Amiga users. It is not a toy, yet can be enjoyable to use.
ASDG included a large number of interesting effects, but no easy
way to use most of them in an animation. FRED is great for simpler
tasks, such as combining a large number of frames intD an
animation, however; when it comes to creating brand new
animations, it can be difficult to achieve the desired results even
with the included tutorials and scripts.
The best way to get all the power out of most of the operators
is to write an ARexx script to control them or use one of the
programs now available to help automate the writing process for
you. After all, who would want to perform an operation manually
on a 500-frame animation? But contrary to what a large number of
people may think, writing and designing an ARexx script is easier
than neurosurgery.
The purpose of this article is not to teach the ARexx basics, but
rather to help someone who uses ADPro and would never consider
using ARexx for anything. Writing a script may seem like an
imposing task at first, but if it is broken down into a few concise
sections the task becomes much easier.
To simplify the task, it is useful to divide the writing process
into three areas: the idea, or what you want the script to accom-
plish; the theory, or which operators in combination can be used to
give the desired effect; and the actual writing of the script.
Getting an idea can be the hardest of the three steps - after all,
the effect being produced should be both effective and visually
pleasing. One way to get inspired is to watch a T.V. channel which
may have a fair number of visual effects, such as a home shopping
channel or a home viewing movie advertisement channel.
Once you have an idea, you must decide how to go about
implementing it. Unfortunately, there are few shortcuts; however, if
you have even a vague impression of how to accomplish the effect,
you should go into ADPro and try out a few scenarios to manually
approximate your theories. This will help you decide what works,
or at least what doesn't work. Often, it is quite helpful if you draw
the effect on a piece of paper and then work from the drawing
instead of from memory.
Finally, we have come to the implementation of the theory. If
you have never used ARexx before, I would suggest that you look
through the scripts which come with ADPro as they can provide a
wealth of information about how to write your own.
However, back to the first step for a moment. In order to get
an idea, one must be aware of the capabilities of the program.
Therefore, a few examples of effects will be provided to help you
get some ideas.
Compositing
ADPro not only provides operators to manipulate individual
images, but also gives the user the ability to composite two images
together. In all of the examples, compositing is the basis for the
transitions, and thus, we will start with the simplest transition - the
fade. All that is involved here is changing the "fade factor" in each
frame. To see how this is accomplished, take a look at Script #1.
The roll operator may seem like a fairly simple operator with
little use by itself, but it does have some definite uses, especially in
transitions between two screens. For example, one transition that
can be created using only roll would be a "push" style transition,
where it appears that one image is pushing the other off the screen.
To accomplish this, use Script #2, which uses the principles from
the first script with the roll operator.
Of course, compositing can be used in many other ways. In
fact, if one does a "two-step" composition, virtually any effect can
be achieved. A "two-step" composition refers to using an interme-
diary image, generally consisting of two colors. For our example,
black and white will be used. Imagine that there is a white circle in
the middle of a black background. This new picture should be the
same size as the other two images.
To start the effect, load the first image. Then load the interme-
diate image using compositing and allow the transparent color to
be white. If you were to view the picture now, there should be a
circle in the middle of the image which contains the center of the
other image. The rest of the screen should be black. Now save this
temporary image and load the second image. Finally, load the
temporary image using compositing with a transparent color of
black. If you were to view the resulting picture, there should be a
circle with the center of the first image which is surrounded by the
second image. This example is essentially the same as example four
1X1 the tutorial section of the ADPro manual, except that this
example does not use the alpha channel option, as some older
versions of ADPro do not have it. It is important that you under-
stand this example, as it is the basis for the following examples.
Animated Transitions
The use of the alpha channel gives an interesting effect, but is not
terribly useful in its present form for animations. So, we must
modify it so that it will allow us to change the image sequentially.
The first step is to create a new intermediary image; however, this
one must be three times as long along the x axis (i.e., if the original
images are 320x200, the intermediary one must be 960x200). Now,
draw a pure white line on the intermediary image (this assumes
that the intermediary image size is 960x200) from 320,199 to 639,0.
Now fill in the region below the line with the same white. Then, be
sure that the region to the right of the white triangle is also white all
the way to the end of the image. This is done so that we may
gradually change the picture by moving the intermediarv image
along the x axis when compositing it onto the first image.
To create this new animation, increment the x position of the
intermediate image when it is being composited ovito the first
image. The parameters for the compositor in AR»;xx are as follows:
LOAD {filenamel Xoffset Yoffset %composition transRed
36
Amazing Computing
transGreen transBlue. See Script #3 for the complete code. This
effect could also be done in [-'RED, but would likely require more
work, and would not be as easy to tweak to get it exactly as you
want it. This is a major benefit of ARexx scripts.
Of course, this script can be modified in many ways; for
example, this transition could be performed vertically. Another
interesting variation of this theme is using a multicolored interme-
diary image. To do this, create an image with dimensions of
740x200. The pixels from 0,0 to 419,199 should be black and the
pixels from 420,0 to 739,199 should be white.
This image can be divided into three parts. The first part, from
0,0 to 319,199 should be entirely black and, when composited, will
let the viewer see the entire first image. The second part, from 420,0
to 739,199 should be entirely white, to allow the second image to be
seen. The third part, the middle, can contain anything you wish. For
example, it could contain an eagle pulling the second picture
overtop of the first picture, or anything you desire. If you have a 24-
bit paint program, the middle can be quite realistic.
Perhaps you may even want to try using a digitized image.
The only restriction is that the background of this middle section
must be black if you wish it to be transparent. Another variant
would be to use the roil operator in conjunction with compositing
to give the impression that the first image is being pushed away by
the second one. This variation is shown in Script #4.
The scripts provided with this article are relatively simple
ones. They can be as complex as you desire, with veiry few
limitations. The provided scripts should help in overcoming the
initial hurdles in writing scripts if you are doing it manually, or, if
you have one of the automation programs, by giving you new ideas
on how to create new effects.
GMto
Script #1
** A simple script that uses
** compositing to go from
** one image to another.
ADDRESS "ADPro"
OPTIONS RESULTS
mimframes ■ 30
fadefactor *
atartimage ■ "Work sPicl. IFF"
endimage = "Work s Pic 2. IFF"
animnane = "Works Test Anim"
DO loop = 1 to num frames
** Changs the weight Of the
"* image to be composited.
fade£actor= f adef actor +1 00 /numframes
LFORMAT "IFF"
LOAD atartimage
* * Add the second image to
** the first and remove decimals.
truncFade = trunc(fadef actor |
LOAD endimage truncFade
DITHER 1
REMDEfl_TYPE HAM
EXECUTE
S FORMAT "ANIH"
SAVE animnaite IMAGE APPEND
SFQRKAT "ANrM"
SAVE animname image WRAPUP
Script #2
** A sample script using the
** roll operator to "push"
•* one image off the screen.
ADDRESS "ADPro"
OPTIONS RESULTS
numframes = 20
** Generally zero.
rlghtrollval ■
** Generally equal to the
•» w idth of the images.
leftrollval » 320
picwidth ■ 320
atartimage = "Works Picl. IFF"
endimage = "Work: Pic2. IFF"
animname = "WorfciTestAnim"
temppic = "RAHiTempPic.IPP"
DO loop * 1 to nimfranies-1
*• Increment the roll amount
*■ for the two images and truncate
*• any decimal value.
rightrollval = rightrollval+picwidth/immframes
leftrollval = leftrollval-picwidth/numframeB
truncRlght n trunc( rightrollval}
tmncLeft = trunc(lef trollval)
LFORMAT "IFF"
LOAD atartimage
OPERATOR "ROLL" "RIGHT" truncRight NO.WRAP
** Puts the first image into
■* a buffer, where it is loaded
** later using the cosmpositing
** option to add it to the second
** image.
SPORMAT -IFF"
SAVE temppic RAW
LOAD endimage
OPERATOR "ROLL" "LEFT" truncLeft NO_WRAP
LOAD temppic 100
DITHER 1
RENDER.TYPE HAM
EXECUTE
SFORHAT "ANIM"
SAVE animname IMAGE APPEND
'* ADPro' s ROLL operator will
•* not allow an image to be rolled
** by the width of the image,
** therefore, the final image must
** be loaded separately.
LOAD endimage
DITHER I
RENDER TYPE HAM
EXECUTE
September 1994
37
S FORMAT "ANIJT
SAVE animname IMAGE APPEND
SAVE a.liasiaae IMAGE WRAPUP
A scrip! which uses a
middle atw image as a
pattern tor a transition.
ADDRESS "ADPro"
0PTIQN5 RESULTS
numf rames*20
"* Size of the intermediate image
intermediate* a '<• :
imageX = 320 /• Picture size •/
aizeX c intermediates - iaageX
whereX = /• how much to roll •/
startpic ■ "Work : Picl . IFF"
endpic ■ w Work:Pic2.IPP w
intermediate ■ "Work: Background. IFF"
bufferfile « "RAK:TempFic.IPF- /* Tnmuorary flU •/
animname * "WcrkiTestAnis"
DO loop : 1 to rsuflfraaet
LFORMAT "IFF"
LOAD startpic
Loads and composites the
"trans it i 0.1" screen, t hen
saves it for later composition.
Uses black as the transparent
color so the first image io
unchanged where black existed
in the intermediate, but white
was laid directly onto the
original image.
roundX=trungr(whoreX) /■ Makep an integer
LOAD intermediate roundX 100
S FORMAT "IFF"
SAVE bufferfile RAW
LOAD endpic
•• Ccn^osites the image
** saved earlier.
LOAD bufferfile 100 255 255 255
RENDER _T¥P£ HAM
EXECUTE
** Changes the offset for
** the next frame.
whereX=whereX-sizeX/ (numf rames-1)
SFORMAT "ANIM"
SAVE animname IMAGE APPEND
SFORMAT M AHIH"
SAVE aninuiaitie IMAGE WRAPUP
Script #4
** A script which uses a 24-bit
•* intermediate image as a
" pattern for the transition.
ADDRESS -ADPro-
OPTIONS RESULTS
numframes - 40
width ■ 320 /• Width of the image •/
middle > 100 /* Width of the middle block */
sizeX > width * middle
whereX = /* Generally zero ■/
start image - "Work:Ficl.IFF"
endimage - "Work: Pic2 . IFF"
intermediate * "Work :ColorBaqkgrour.d. IFF"
temppic ■ "RAK:TempPic.lFF" /* A buffer file
animname = - Work:TestAnini"
do loop = its numf ravu
f*
" This changes the value retruired for
** rolling the flrgt image to the left.
** If it is negative, ADPro does not roll.
V
roundX n trunc(whereX|
rollvar - -roundX - middle
LFORMAT "IFF"
LOAD start image
OPERATOR "ROLL" "LEFT" rollvar HO_WRAP
** Loads and composites the
•* intermediate image onto the
•* original, leaving the original
•* untouched after the roll, but
** adds the middle image giving
** ffioveiDent (i.e., biplane, logo*.
** Also changes black portion of
** Bcreen to white for later
'• composition.
LOAD intermediate roundX 100
SFORMAT "IFF"
SAVE temppic RAW
LOAD end image
Changes value needed for moving
the second image to the left
rollvar = sizeX t roundX
OPERATOR "ROLL" "RIGHT" rollvar MO WRAP
Loads and composites the first
image onto the second one.
LOAD temppic 100 255 255 255
DITHER 1
RENDER TYPE HAH
EXECUTE
Change the offset of
the next frame.
whereX-whereX-slzeXV (numErames-1)
SFORMAT "ANIM"
SAVE animname IMAGE APPEND
SFORMAT "AKIH"
SAVE animname IMAGE WRAPUP
Please Write to:
Jason R, Hardy
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Faff River, MA 02722-2140
•AC*
38
AjUAZIXG Cd.MI'LTISd
order line • USA & Canada
1-800-258-0533
in
Realize the full potential of A
1200 wltil the DXB 1202
expansion board.
Speeds up math intensive
operations, a must nave Feature If
i you do any morphine; cr animation,
< Image manipulation or ray-tracing,
3 offers the option of running a matn
1 coprocessor up to w hi. Easy
3 installation!
HIGH DENSITY
7 JglmwJ I ^B"W%F
Add from 1 to 12s megs of
memory
SCSi interface Dotton, Real time
: :-:< a-a calencer. 68050 processor
running at «>MHz.
.::■=:=::= :::;;;: v-r::
processor 50 MHz.
XLDRIVE - HIGH DENSITY
High Density External Drive for any Am I ga formats
1.76MB with standard OD Disks compatible for PC
Disks requires work Bench 2.1 or shove
internal for " "J _ tzJ
A2Q00/A40O0 S165
Disk Expander is an innovative program for all
Amiga users, with ttiis software solution you
may double the capacity of your disk or nard
dlsK drives. The installation process takes only
seconds and afterwards Disk Expander works
Invisible in the Packgroung. The compression
ratios vary from JQ% to 70% . The easy to use
graphical Interface guarantees that even the
Inexperienced user is able to use Disk Expander
immediately without any problems. Disk Expan-
er does not only expand ttie capacity of your
disk drive, even floppy disks now have a storage
space of approximately 1.5 megabytes. Works
with all drives Including, SCSI, IDE, Floppies and
even the RAD disk). ^^_^_
Usea VCR as a backup
storage device. Two hun-
dred Amiga floppy disks
fit on to a 4HT. tape which
can be used for an alter-
native hard disk backup
system. What's more you
can now waxen television
on your1»)s monitor.
Scart or Phono version Is
available.
mBtF
BARS & PIPES
PRO 2.5
l/ersio"
Improved notation display s editing, revised
kjok/feei, groove quantise, drum
«k «%4% mapping, sequence trigger.
2ZsaT Toaster control much more
Power TOPIS Kit SH ONE STOP 16 Bit iivolce. MIDI Interface
performance Tools Kit $34 MUSIC SHOP. $559
Create accompaniments,
sound-cracks, styles 1 grooves
:.:■ ■ u-.i- ■ <-.=:=--
Turbo Sounds , 2 octave chords,
visual volume
Spanning.
*79
1 149
CloriSSA V2.0 ACA
The animation utility of the year! Assemble single Images into animations
and converts ANlM-5 and ANlM-7 to SSA format for playback up to 60
fields per second while greatly reducing the size. ClarlSSA also features
flexible editing capabilities l Ike cut. copy and paste on single frames or
ranges and color functions such as fading, chaos and lightning. Animations
with different resolutions can be combined Into a sing e animation Full
arexx support and a built-in screen grabber make clanSSA integrate
seamlessly with otner applications. A redistributable SSA playback program
Is included.
cliriSSA received the 'Product of the year" aivand from Amiga Magizin Ger-
many and the "Amiga Plus Award 9S- Best Animation software -
Adorage V2.0 AGA
*149
Create dazzling 20 and 3D transitions Between scenes and Images in near
realtime. Whether intended for presentations, info-systems or video foot-
age, there is no effect-generation tool that surpasses Adorage In versatility,
ease-of-use or results. User-definable parameters and a wealth of built-in
effects deliver output limited only by your Imagination. The support of
up to 256-color ACA mooes provides Adorage with superior quality results,
while the SSA animation format guarantees the fastest play&ick possible
at up to 60 fields per second.
AMIGA
Networking up to 20 Amlgas together over a distance of up to 350 feet has now
Become easy ana affordable. AmlgaLlnk installs on the external floppy delve port,
eliminating the need for Internal Installation or use of a zorro slot. Set up and
configured In minutes, AmlgaLlnk offers sharing of ait storage devices and
printers across the network, ughwave users now have an easy way to dlstf bute
■enderlrtg Jobs to multiple machines.
Rl Spectronic
^igmph 24 -Mi Color
FROM
OREGON
■ > a r<ii7i«iia«Mrij^ri
MegaLoSound
Megalosound is an amazingly low cost,
full featured. B Bit Stereo sound sampler.
But that snot all! it also
features Dlrect-to-Dlsk
Recording of samples. Up
to 56km sample rate.
«
video dlgiti;
& sound sampling all in one package. Full Color
Stills, grayscale motion video clips, and Video
sequence Editor, includes stand alone sequence
player and ANIM5 converter. For ASM. AGOO. ana
enhanced ACA version for A1200! Also available
is ColorMaster. capture full screen still,
olctlres AUTOMATICALLY, from any
video source. FAST!
L2J§\9pOC 3 Fast, Assembly language
programming environment for all
Amlgas. Integrated, multi-window rtr— j
Editor, Debugger, and FAST Assembling. '#
>S A Major Upgrade to
Hisort Basic Professional Including fully
Integrated editor/compller/source deBug-
glng environment. 2 time faster than previous
versions and has full support for
WB1.3. 2. and 3! Excellent manual,
lot's of programming examples.
MBO AMMflMOm CLARITY 16 16 bit stereo
;:rr_ l.j r'3ii: i. .-. :■■■.' j SEC'JETifEBO'iE'CNESLUS-
Enoy level j Mia-levei mo ano sample sequencer systems
wltn nlgnly acclaimed Diamond Drag noteeciting system.
MaxonMAGit - Amazing screen saver I systemauOlo
manager, cosorfuimoouies. Assign sounds to system events
PRO-MiCi- tow cost MIDI interlace!
FLATBED
SCAM HER
The MS12D0 L MS2400 let you scan 167 million colors. 256 true grew * 'ire art
perfect for the Toaster t other video, multimedia t DTP applications.
MetS MS T2X I [UK KamtftQ 1300 apt nux FREE OCR JR.
MSitX ■ 1 pSH scanning 2400 aoi mm
* E5"xi*' scam;ng uet
► Coiorttt Pro ■ saves 24-bit iff/tiff ana mor*
scan size limited only by avaliaale naro rJtsk space.
i SCSfcatteand terminator
i Optional trarrspirencY aaapier & snee: feeder
MS 24 00
MSI 200
$1098 $899
ColorBursi™
COLOR HAND SCANNER
itiree scanners in one! Scan color, true grayscale
and monochrome i]ne art. Perfect for video,
multimedia, desktop publishing and more.
• 4 scan Mooes 762.144 colors. 4096 colors:
64 true grayscales: monochrome text
• 50-400 opf foasecj on scan moae selected)
• CoiorKit software ■ puick. accurate scanning
53VP IFF. HAMS. And 24-Oit IFF
• Parallel interface with cable
-aca compatible
• OCR Jr. text recognition ■ included
MONOCHROME
HAND SCANNER
with ^+-
T0UCh-Upv3.^S«
1AGA compatible) ▼'
OCR Jr. text reader
now $199
DUtrttlUtBd By
RETINA NoaM i's
24Blr Frame Buffer and WortPefKfl Emulation.
Analog RCB output, 800*600 Full 24EM: 15 7 m I-
ilan color display «N3n interJaced Full Wort-
bench Emulation w m resolution such as
1024*763 or U6Ck1M4 in 16 cocrs Or even mere! Up to ?40Qk1?CG> Paint program
comes with Retina Tne Betina can still be used to dispUy :fflit grapnics while
emulating wontoencn Reoulres the 2 Oct greater poerattng system
Retina Zll & Zlil
CALL
W/2MB.Q45 W/4MB.!495
•Lab Motion
! ttan-Linear Yiflea 1 Audio Editing and Playback #*a||
as well as V-Lab Y/C Ji -
• Digitizes Full Frame $ZQO v/cvenionS459
In 1/50 of a second &&& New Eiiemjl for SCO. 600. 1 JOO
-* v/wt-AJA meiocara Kahili l68R«K(iodlgitaervMta5
stereo mouB. awie 31 no ic a Mi « i EBit 3no 3Bit area to narooTsfc Ptsvtjjck
from rtardBsi! up a is cnannfis in ifflit HTimes orerstamoing. 16 sanStg
rates, rreq Besocnse 10 m to a mi Simmancous Record t -
pavo** from Hjrarjnve.
SfvMTH
;^m_
PageStream3.0^2 24
The Ultimate desktop publishing program! PagesStreamj provides
We professional typesetting and graphic tools vou need. It has a
feature-paced too box to create any type of shape, which you can
color with RWONEe colors anfl gradient nils. Import and enport
text and grapnics in many formats, and see pictures in full color on
screen, aga compatible! Automatic Flasft macros automate most
page layout tasks ano create custom page designs. Create your own
macros with recordable ARexx! Load ProPage documents and edit
ProDtaw drawings, unlimited Undo and Redo, extensive online nelp.
autosave. dot leaders. Index generation and more! Package includes
SMS 2 Image processor, PageLlner 2 text processor 50 fonts and 100
graphics!
^X^2l/JJ\fjJv 2.0^1
create bitmap and outline fonts for an your programs! Convert between
PostScript. CompugraDh c and Scft-Logik formats. Autotrace bitnuos and
generate bitmaps from eutiine fonts. Automate font creation with ABexx
Copy and paste characters between fonts, and add professional hinting to
vovr fonts. Compute. Amazing. Amiga ?s?r,nx snz Ar-ci:;.:; v< Gjfled
TypeSmith a must-have program. Voted Best DTP utility Oy Amazing s readers
orders Only USA & Canada
1-800-258-0533
\!2^iias3Da3
REMEMBER!
A-Care
REPAIRS, UPGRADE
\ SERVICE FOR ALL
AMIGA COMPUTERS
413-9E3-117G
The Only Expansion Device you
need for your Amiga 4000 (or
Amiga 3000) that provides High-
speed 040 Acceleration, up to 128
MegaBytes of Local 040 Burst
Memory and the fastest scsi-ll
Controller Available! Why?
Because all of this expansion is on a single board that installs
into the CPU slot- Not a zorro ill slot!
FEATURES
warpEnglne
CVP 040/00
Fastlane
28MHz. 33MHz, dOM HZ versions
YES
NO
NO
rs^HZ upgradable to 53 and 40MHz
YES
MO
NO
ExoandaOle On board to128MegaByr.es Ram
YES
HO
YES
Built In SCSI-2 Hard DriveController
YES
NO
YES
Uses industry Standard SIMM Modules
YES
NO
NO
Uses any Combination of SIM MS
YES
NO
NO
Allows use of the Memory from the Amiga
YES
NO
NO
28 MHz..., 2 rimes as fast as standard 4000/40 $799 1
33 MHz.... 25 timss as fast as standard 4000/40 £f 1M|
40 MHz.... 3 times as fast as standard 4000/40 .... $f 3§9|
TV Paint...
True State of the Art in Amiga 24 bit
paint packages. The many feature of
TV Paint include Image Manipulation,
Drawing Tools. Editing Tools.
Emboss. Sharpen, a^^
Relief, Outline and fv^/n
much, much more! r_±j U
MULTIFRAME ADPro
Eequr« Art DeMrtment Profesi
k 3 compcsitrng/ layering tnterfjc
engm* improves ADPro 5 i.Tpre«
npiu5 A ARe** Amig3Dos 1.04 or higher Multi Frame for ADPro tJ >-
:r?«iJcnaK & artists LKing A5DG sADPro program as a cc-mposmn;; lEfl
rcnoosttng functicns control jo to 100 uyers - -
Making Technology Affordable Since 1986
D/VT/Vi=I_Yi
•92
Now add up to 5 SCSI devices like CD ROMs removable
rnedea drives tape back-up systems and scanners
without using the "CPU slot" or an "expantlon slot". The
DataFlyer SCSI+ card attaeehes to the IDE header and converts ll to also run SCSI.
Operate your original IDE/AT drive at the same time. Easy PLUC-IN Installation.
Includes esternal DB25 connector, hardware, cables and prep software.
Avialabls for A120 or 4000
D/VT/V i= l_Y £ r*
A1200 External IDE Case
Install Your Favortte
3.5" Hard Dnve
Includes all
cables and
connections.
5.5" Removable Media
p^ Syquest Hard Drive
A4000 AT internal w/cart
A4000/2000 SCSI internal w/cart
A4QOO/2000 SCSI external w/cart
105Mb cartridge
£57®
](5)Y7fJ\
High speed 68030 Accelerator
£3ffffSi 50 MHZ 68030
mb ram. includes w/MMU/FPU 50/50/0
Realtime Clock
MBX 1200Z
NO FPU S79
14 MhZ 68881 S99
04ifu> i S////j/j/Wt/ uit/t QSe**\/eafnuy,..
Battery Backup. Clock S Calender • ram Expansion to SME of 32 Bit RAM
s&
"Q EXPANSION INTERFACE FOR THE CD32
*259
MICROBOTICS
This board assembly plugs on the Back of the CD32. still allows the use of the
CD32 Full Motion Video Module inn its normal slot, and provides trie interfaces
from the unit * internal-ide interface •
EXTERNAL-RGB video • IDE Interface • parallel interface • Floppy drive interface • 9-pln
serial port • Plug for AT type 101 key keyboard • Audio Input to allow mixing of audio
Pw&metKrfffodiKfrThm...
vBfs*rl
EDGE
DG^WATRONICS
The leaders in AMIGA Productivity Software
ri-
Edge is an easy-to-use, professional-quality
text editor ideally suited for notes,
scripting and any other forms of text
manipulation.
55S*e= Features include: unlimited number of
files unlimited number of windows/file, infinitely
configurable user interface, fast search & replace, full AREXX support
with macro recording, AREXX controllability, multi-level undo,
extensive "on-line" help, comprehensive paragraph formatting and
MUCH more!
OPUS
Realize your full productivity with Directory
OPUS! OPUS allows you to easily manipulate
data files; display images; play sounds,
ANIMS, BAN1MS, and MODS; and launch
programs from its powerful, yet easy to use
interface. A "must-have" for hard drive
owners, use OPUS once, and you'll never
want to be without it! tit's the best-selling
software utility on the Amiga!!
CICAMEM
GigaMem virtual memory system lets your
Amiga utilize unused hard drive space as
ram, eliminating the need for additional
hardware! With Gigamem you can run
memory-hungry programs (such as Art
Department, Lightwave, canDo and
Pagestream) without running low on
memory.
Requires an 020/030/040 based Amiga with
MMU and OS version 2.1 or higher.
CanDo!
The CanDo software authoring package allows
you to take advantage of the Amiga's powerful
architecture, regardless of your technical
abilities. You can program anything from a
simple presentation to the most advanced
professional application program in record
time. In short, CanDo takes the guesswork and
drudgery out of programming and lets the
creative genius in you run wild.
CanDo's scope and performance makes it a
must for training, simulation and other
applications.
&m
,—J,..c-.
I*
OSKS1
luct Inlonrnrtlsii • Service Tips
Z w" «J
Of**
m^mm
Orders only USA & Canada
800-258-0533
9-9 weekdays
10-8 Saturday
12 to 5 on
Sunday
goaouDODO^o 1 <$m$m Mm
$10 EACH
ALFRED CHICKEN
ALIENS 3
BART VS THE WORLD
BEASTLORD
BEAVERS
BLASTAR
CENTERFOLD SQUARES
CREATURES
KRUSTY'S FUN HOUSE
OSCAR
OSCAR AGA
SINK OR SWIM
SUPERCARS 2
URIDIUM 2
WINTER CAMP
WONDERDOG
HYPERION
WWF EURO RAMPAGE
WWF WRESTLING
ZOOL AGA
$17 EACH
3 STOOGES/KING
A TRAIN
ADDAMS FAMILY
ALFRED CHICKEN AGA
ALIEN BREED 2
APOCALYPSE
ARABIAN NIGHTS
ASHES OF THE EMPIRE
BODY BLOWS GALACTIC
CADAVER
CHRISTMAS LEMMINGS
COVERT ACTION
DELUXE STRIP POKER 2
DISPOSABLE HERO
■'»_
Baggie package
$14 EACH
ASSASSIN SPECIAL EDITION
BLUES BROTHERS
CAPTAIN PLANET
COOL WORLD
CURSE OF ENCHANTIA
D/GENERATION AGA
Fl 9 STEALTH FIGHTER
Fl 5 STRIKE EAGLE 2
GAUNTLET 3
HARDBALL
HARLEOUIN
HOOK
JAMES POND
JOHN BARNES SOCCER
LETHAL WEAPON
LOTUS TURBO 3
MEGA TWINS
MORPH & MORPH AGA
OVERKILL AGA
SHADOW DANCER
SHADOW WORLDS
SMASH TV
SWITCHBLADE 2
TOKf
TRIPLE ACTION 2
TRIPLE ACTION 5
TROLLS AGA
UTOPIA
WOLF CHILD
'Offer Good write Sudd* ustsi
Nigel Mansell and
Steering Wheel
COMBO PRICE!
JAGUAR XJ220
FATMAN
FATMAN AGA
GLOBAL GLADIATORS
INTELLIGENT GAMES
KINGS QUEST II
MIG-29
NAUGHTY ONES
NAUGHTY ONES AGA
ONE STEP BEYOND
PACIFIC ISLANDS
POLICE QUEST
PREMIERE
ROAD RASH
ROBOSPORT
SEEK a DESTROY
SHOCKWAVE
SLEEPWALKER AGA
SPACE GUN
SPACE QUEST 2
TEAM YANKEE
Limited Time Only
THE IMMORTAL
ULTIMA V
WINTER SUPER SPORTS
ZOOL 2
$22 EACH
ANCIENT ART OF WAR IN THE SKY
B-17 FLYING FORTRESS
BOB'S BAD DAY
BUBBA a STIX
BURNING RUBBER
BURNING RUBBER AGA
CHAOS ENGINE
COOL SPOT
CYPERPUNK
DARKMERE
DENNIS
DENNIS AGA
DOG FIGHT
DONK
FIRES ICE
FURYOFTHEFURRIES
GLOBDULE
JNTL OPEN GOLF AGA
LEGENDS OF VALOR
LINKS W/BOUNTIFUL
MAGIC BOY
MEAN ARENAS
MICKEY MOUSE 123
MICKEY MOUSE ABC
MICKEY MOUSE JIGSAW
MICKEY MOUSE MEMORY
NICKY 2
NODDY'S BIG ADVENTURE
NODDY'S PLAYTIME
PAINT a CREATE
PRIME MOVER
SIM LIFE
SOCCER KID AGA
SPELLING FAIR
SPORTS TOP 10
THEATRE OF DEATH
Z00L2 AGA
$27 EACH
AWARD WINNERS 2
COMBAT AIR PATROL
DEEP CORE
DIGGERS AGA
DREAMLANDS BUNDLE
EXCELLENT GAMES
KINGS TABLE
LEGEND OF KYRANDIA
LOTUS TRILOGY
MIGHTS MAGIC 3
MR.NUTZ
NIGEL MANSELL AGA
PLAYROOM
REACH FOR THE SKIES
SECOND SAMURAI
SECOND SAMURAI AGA
SPACE HULK
TEAM 1 7 COLLECTION #1
TOTAL CARNAGE AGA
WHALES VOYAGE AGA
WIZ a LIZ
1869
NEW TITLES
JAMES POND 3:STARFISH S32 BATTLETOADS
CRASH DUMMIES
TORNADO AI2«yA4O0O S49
HEIWDALL2INOTA120QI $35
- 2 MS RJUU
■ 1* mhi GB1C02D
• Dull Sp»D m EMtJW
ROM li • i v !■ ^^
. 11 autlon «nd. INCLUDES
n*ia contour ™ — — —
3 FREE
■SSSSS?" GAMES
@ts)§a iTDTmas a aecsS 1
C03?ACCE&SCR1£S HEPPWE E9 pCKFaVDQGCAI
■ -- S3 OE.*ENKPOf T'MECBCW, £3 QSCfl
<ZY3~ip; S9 OCGEHS EB FWTE5GCU
KEtBOUOMUPTEH tlS FfGOPO. E9 ffctw OUT f<fi
£TT=U C-QtfflCUEti IT GKXJERSBOrVt
WGTOIWK0UCUI& CJIU. GflCUERSBCT
i. IEMMO. NMKI
PB KSCIS STORY &0D
CH*jgeti=s c* shaoui s» ucnxcsuu ^"- -i- m >ix- tistkm -
GHWS END WtCTS 5T EN WUfiHTY»t$ tS LCWHiPDCA^W RV.
' -'--'• -- — -'^ - -y ■■■•■<■■ ■■■■■■ v
$HOW&-CQfCEfiTS
■> &LYMYCYHUS JY1 S3
: K»IJC'.. «;«•-€ EiT- sc$
M MTrCMStMQM m
EncavrancacuLT
IBfftWCHERSTlCE K9
^EJ CHLMENS CO
S3 7hEtt5Tff6WT50»M5 E9
Sa LAW CHOPS
SS PUVALDNaSONOS E3
g SPOflTS
|p TOJCHWW $»
SH ADULT
H KJHAOKEiTILES Z^i
(^DtMiX&l
TEHTUBE trTY
i SO ^nffnora i gncr t g« 1 7 njnei
AUWRSQUKI
NEC MllltlSplD 35 $J89 HEWCKtWKlRBn
NEC TrlpleSpeed 3XP $539 --.~.^-m-
TEXEL 5028 internal $S99 K^WSSJKU.-,.
$79
$19
S19
$32
$19
$22
$19
GIFSCAIORE
COLOflMADIC w***nlw »aw
r3JtW ATXtwy KCCp
MECA MEDIA
^miiw«HTyflH^f wi
MUITWECU
OCD MOB. HI acrm jnd 'vmi
SPACE 1 ASTSONOm
S19
S29
$25
$19
$25
$29
ASDC SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE
ART KPT PRO J $ "NEW PRICE' SI69 0O
PFOCOWPOL S5700
CYGNJSEOPRO S69CO
MOHPHPLLIS SU2C0
Pt« CONVfRSION PA;K 552 CO
TREIK PROFESSIONAL 2 ST25CO
TRUEPRINT24 S59CO
AXIOM SOFTWARE
PIXEL 3D PRO *2 $16900
WAVE LINK (95 00
WAVE MAKER $15900
BRUCE SMITH BOOKS
A12CO THE NET! STEP $23 CO
A1 ICC INSIDERS GUIDE $23 CO
AMIGA ASSEMBLER IHSIDEB $23 CO
MASTERING AMIGA AMOS $26 00
MASTERING AMIGA AREIX $27 CO
MA5TIPING AMIGA C $26 CO
MASTERING AMIGA DOS 2 VOL I $27 CO
MASTERING AMIGA DOS 2 VOL 2 $27 00
MASTERING AMIGA DOS 3 VOL 1 $27 00
MASTERING AMIGA DOS 3 VOL 2 $27 CO
MASTERING AMIGA FOR BEGINNERSS2E 00
MASTERING AMIGA SYSTEMS $29.00
MASTERING AMIGA PRINTERS $2600
CENTAUR VIDEO PRODUCTS
OPALVISION S39900
OPALVISION VIDEO PROCESSM $999 00
OPALV1SKM VIDEO SUITE $99400
&CANRATE CONTROLLER CALL
MGITA1 CREATIONS VIDEO PRODUCTS
BRILLIANCE $12900
KTTCHENSYNC S1279CO
KITCHEN SYNC S VHS ADAPTER $99 CO
SUPER GENSK S799CO
AMI BACK TOOLS
AM! BACK PLUS TOOLS
TAPEWORM FS
$A500
$7500
$3000
GREAT VALLEY PRODUCTS
OS 58.
TBC.
10 EXTENDER
10 EXTENDER EXTSA SERIAL
1 230- TUHBO PERT 1 «MM
!2i<^ TURBO PERf 13 500 A
AI29I SCSI ADAPTER
AOCB SCSI ADAPTER
EGS.2S2A SPECT9UM 2MB
PHONE PACK
GLOCK
IMAGE fl I 5
$83 00
$795 00
SI 13 CO
$25 00
SJ99 00
SESJOO
$88 00
$145 00
$520 CO
$29900
$35900
$22900
I0ME0A REMOVABLE HARD DRIVES
BOXIS3INSIDER $19900
BOX I50TRANPORTABLE $599 00
BOX IS0CARTR1DGE SIOSCO
INTELLIGENT SOFTWARE
AMI BACK $48 00
MICRO R&D
BIGFOOTP£SOOfiOai2COl200MO SS$00
BIGFOOTPSA2000I3O0WI $146.00
ELRESA MIDI IflTERfACE $39 00
MOUSE - SWIFTY $29.00
X-CALIBUR ACCEL. FOR A4000 CAU.
TRANSITION $39.00
OXXI SOFTWARE
SLPERBASE PROFESSIONAL IV $185 00
5UPERBA5E PERSONAL TV $94 00
SUNRIZE AUDIO PRODUCTS
ADSItSTUaO 16 $129900
AD10I1STUDIOI6 $539 00
STUDIO IE
SMPTEOUTPUT SI35CO
TOASTER HANDLER SI3SCO
SYQUEST REMOVABLE HARD DRIVES
S8MB INTERNAL WCABLE 6 CART $429 CO
88MB CARTRIDGE $109 00
TRI-MEOIA DRAWING TABLETS
DRAWING SLATE 6X9 S299CO
DRAWING BOARD 111 12J12CORDED $47900
DRAWING BOARD III 12X12 CORDLESS $599 00
DRAWING BOARD III 18X18CORDED $899 CO
DRAAING BOARD HI l8<I8CC«rxESSS999 DO
OCCCE.<S> i£&J&£&£&[®m&
mss%
'*£&
AMIGA CD MAGAZINES
MACA2INE $in:lE BILLED
NAME ISSUE MOKTHLY
AMIGA CD !2 111 110
AMI«CD!2CAAIE» tn ill
ISSUES &
$ui>iMptm
_ AMIGA MAGAZINES
'.'A::::',' SIHCIE BiUED
NAME BSUE MONTHLY
AMIGA ACTBN !1t S9
AMIGA COMPUTING S10 S9
AMCA FOSMAT jia <9
AMCA POWER S13 19
AWCA SHOPPER 17 17
AUCA USER $13 $9
CUAMCA $13 $9
'-EC'.: (■ S3
PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE MAILING
PC CD-ROM MAGAZINES
MACJU11I sa
NAME IS
CD POWER PLAY 1
CD. RDM TODAY 1
CO ROM USER !
MULTIAIEDIA1CDROU 1
PCFOOMATCD !
PCCAUaCtl !
PCHUEOD !
KPUBCD I
FCPCWHCO I
::■:■- -
-.' -.-■■---. i
SILLED
MONTHLY
110
in
iw
no
1)0
Sto
s»
!■:
;:;
$@
ffw.
. C-KttOg '• ■!-:-.
Animated
( SCREEN SAUER
Over 25 $€ lecflons
AGO sounas to
. r windows. Keys.
Urns...
±m<At
fiie Latest
Generation tn
Personal & Smafi
Business Record
■ - ■ : ng ana
finance
Maftagement
AMIGA MONITORS
17" IDEK Multi-Scan
15JCMK21W4I(763RES
IDEAL FOR VIDEO
'999
14" Electronome
l«j1S'i"WH!lOT)(7KrES
IDEAL FOB ALL AMUS
499
Primera eojw
PRINTER
MORE COLORFUL
•M^fHctotmmnrMtrtns&ajwrmtng
■Mtnera'soDiwiirxWw.Tewsrafiw'jnijiTioreYteat
,,..,,....,
MORE EFFICIENT
■n : :::-\:x ::::::■]■ ■■
•fJSYtOIM»»(inYT«tXWC«:C«vtlfllrBMTll«. ""* M»I»«MI
ms
1490 N. Hermitage Rd.
Hermitage, pa 16148
FAX: 1-11 2-962-0279
So td SSS 7% Minimum $5 »™«c-normallywithinibusinessdayi
caa TO 1100 t« Minimum <1 UW CIOUNO E I DAI 5HIPP:HC IV FldEl
S200 TO S499 n Mlnlmnm 510 pa, hi, AKaoa siotoabove
$5M TO STS9 !S MIMJtlUTTI S20 ATO, FPO S CANADA are srnooeo Dy
S800. zj% Minimum SM wa jl aaa K to aoove
No addiiiortjl cnaige for FeaEi'
For what otntTi crarge for UPS Ground
we deliver in 2 daY$ or less.
IntematonalOrdininotAPO FPO. I Seno
copy or FAX of front & back a! Cnaig? card
w/sfgnature. call oc fax for snipping rjrae
COD orcers o< Ana IS puces suDjtct le
tfangemmcurucsn anurm accfoMfor
*;tai!^teraatf of Durcms* Car- Clsts-?'
'■--■-- ■■ •-' :.':■* 'ft-'- ■; :!';;: .>.i
,.- :.; .-- EE -. -.- :t.. ;..-;;. - ; : ( ^y
-.- -, ■?.„—-; j-; -;: n:rj-;(-':- w-f
:.:::"r 'j-::-r r:r *:r rrtL'n '^3:^3
-:--■: '-:--:■ -
by Merrill Callaway
Using ARexx DO Loops to Solve
Combinatorial Problems
This month we are going to l\o a bit of "recreational mathematics"
with ARexx to solve a brain teaser about numbers. The problem was
sent to me by Neeva Pedersen, a pen pal of mine who builds houses
for Habitat for Humanity all over the U.S. She figured that I'd enjoy
solving this little problem.
As it turns out, ARexx is idu.il for finding answers to combina-
torial problems of this sort. Mere is the brain teaser:
Fill in the nine blanks with the integers from 1 to 9 inclusive, using
each digit in any position but only ONCE, so that the following
multiplication expression is true:
L) X (_
_) = (_
I.
To clarify the notation, let the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, 1
represent the digits from 1 through 9. We do not know what the
, ..,! Hjl^pj
5 ooioop.
on in iir*
^n toon i
ii loorr !■ ^™
•'HIP I tl» l Woy
tOU MX*
■nrt ao id.
§m fSOOLOO
■ 'noium
1 ^noioor.
no lOOPx
]0 LOOPS I
• mors in.
■ loors do
^ ^ nopf do I
■^ 10FI 1)4 U
^J >PI OOIIM.
^^ J 1 1 00 100
W% t •, toOPu
m lour: ,
■ V otOOPSt
HOOPS 1
A A JCH,
= - rSiJJ
assignments are; only that the letters (and therefore the digits
they represent) are mutually exclusive. Then the problem m,iv
be re-written as
A (times) BCDE (equals) FGHI.
where the letters stand for the mutually exclusive digits 1
through 9. This is the kind of problem that can use up a lot of
paper unless vou lind an algebraic or a number theoretic
solution right away.
Before we try to write an ARexx program to solve it, let's
apply as much logic as we can to the problem. We have a one
digit number times a four digit number equals a four digit
number. The first fact emerging is that A cannot equal I,
because 1 times anything is itself, contradicting our constraint
that the digits be mutually exclusive. Also, A cannot equal 5
because anv integer times 5 ends in either (not in the set of
digits allowed) or 5 (not mutually exclusive with 5). If A=9,
then the smallest number allowed for UCDE is 1234. But 9 X
1234 is five digits long, so A cannot equal 9.
Even though we have eliminated a large number of
possible combinations, we are still a long wav from trying all
combinations of digits. How should we proceed?
Since a computer can perform millions of calculations per
second, il is relatively simple and efficient to program all
sorts of "brute force" solutions to problems involving
combinations of numbers, where a paper and pencil
solution would be difficult or out of the question.
42
Amazing Computing
Program Planning
As far as computers are concerned with mathematics, there tire
at least two ways to find solutions: apply a formula or search all
combinations for the answer. If you know the theory behind
something, you may calculate the results directly from a formula.
For example, if you have a time, speed distance problem you
wish to solve, you simplv plug in the numbers into the formula
D=rT (Distance equals rate of speed multiplied by time). Formulas
mav be algebraically solved for one variable or another depending
on what values we know. Number theoretic and combinatorial
problems do not always lend themselves to ready-made formulas,
however.
Computers have revolutionized the finding of numeric
solutions to problems too complicated to solve with algebra or
calculus. Since a computer can perform millions of calculations per
second, il is relatively simple and efficient to program all sorts of
"brute force" solutions to problems involving combinations of
numbers, where a paper and pencil solution would be difficult or
out of the question. Combinations of numbers are widely used in
encryption schemes. In fact, there is a branch of mathematics and
computer science devoted to the prevention of brute force solutions
to encryption schemes!
ing this out is 10,1)80 a much more reasonable number but still large
as far as paper and pencil go. Later, we will show a way to reduce
this to only 1520 numbers if we constrain the answers to four digits.
Do Loops to the Rescue
Any lime vou have to count something with an ARexx program,
vim should think, "Do loop". Since we are going to count digits,
we can use the Do Loop Iteration Specifier directly as the digit we
are combining with other digits. If we want to SAY all the digits
OK to put into the first position, A, in the puzzle expression, we
should construct this loop;
Do A=2 to 8
if A=5 then iterate A
say A
end A
The output will be 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8. Note the way to iterate the loop
early if A=5. The iterate instruction means to go to the end of the
loop, increment the counter and continue. If the counter is already
at the end, an iterate instruction causes the loop to finish.
Now that we have counted the first position, how do we count
the second position? We need to nest one loop inside another. In
As far as computers are concerned with mathematics,
there are at least two ways to find solutions: apply a
formula or search all combinations for the answer.
Our little problem comes under the general heading of
combinatorial analysis. We start by finding all the ways nine things
can be grouped nine at a time.
How Many Possibilities?
We have nine digits, and we want to know how many ways can we
select all nine digits without replacement? If we ignore all the
logical insight we reasoned out above, such as A does not equal 1,
then the first position, A can he filled in 9 ways. Once we have
selected a digit to put info position A, we have only 8 digits left, so
we can fill position 13 in 8 ways. Now the total ways we can fill
both positions A and B is 9X 8 or 72 ways, because for everv way
we. fill A, there are 8 ways to fill B. Extrapolating this logic to all 9
positions, there are 9 X 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 ways to fill the
nine places. In mathematical notation this number is written 9! for
"nine factorial", 9! is a large number, 362,880; certainly too large to
try writing them all on paper!
We need an ARexx program to help us look through all these
possibilities. If we apply our logical eliminations above for the one
digit number A cannot = 1,5, or 9, then the number of possibilities
becomes (9-3) X 8! = 241,9211, still a verv big number. How many
true equations can we make, however? This number is much
smaller than all the ways of filling in the blanks. Our program will
take advantage of the constraint that the equation must be true.
That is, the first five numbers determine the next four if the
equation is true.
How many combinations of these live numbers are there
(taking account of our logical constraints)? The first number may
be chosen in 6 ways; the next four in 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 ways, Multiply-
the nested loop specifier, we will not worry about whether Ihe A
and U counters are mutually exclusive or not, we just want to count
all unconstrained possibilities. We put in a conditional test to
iterate the outer loop if the numbers A and B are not mutually
exclusive. The nested loop might look like:
Do A=2 to 8
if A=5 then iterate A
Do B=l to 9
if B=A then iterate B
say A V B
endB
end A
The output would be 54 pairs of numbers such as 2 x 1 , 2 x 3, 2
x 4, etc. We are on the way to making up the puzzle expression to
test for validity. Notice our technique assumes we know nothing
about combinalorials. It simply allows us to use ARexx's extremely
powerful string handling features to build up an expression to test.
The constraints are simply conditional tests to force an iteration of
the appropriate loop if the condition is met. Because of symmetry,
we mav expect to nest a total of five do loops to combine the
numbers in the first half of our puzzle expression: A X BCDIi = ????.
The listing shows that we have to test for one more equality
each time we nest a do loop. Note that the iterate instructions
specify which loop to iterate bv naming the iteration specifier or
counter. The end instructions also have the iteration specifier
named. It no specifiers are named, the program iterates the loop in
which the test occurs.
September 1994
43
Explicitly naming the specifiers after an iterate instruction is
not necessary if the program is to iterate the loop in which the
iterate instruction occurs, but it helps readability. Naming the
specifiers is necessary if the program is to iterate a loop at a higher
level than the loop in which the iterate instruction occurs. For
example in the listing, the inner Z loop contains conditional
statements that iterate the next higher level E loop, and the E loop
has tests that may iterate the outer A loop. The specifiers must be
explicit here. With nested loops it is always good to put them in to
aid understanding.
Testing the Test Number
So far, the loops have collected a sequence of digits, ABCDE chosen
uniquely from the digits 1 through 9. In the next to inner loop, E,
the variable, fnum, is the result of a concatenation of B, C, D, and E.
ARexx "types" this string as an integer because it is composed of
four digits. Therefore the test number, tstnum=num=A*fnum is a
string of digits to be tested for the constraints of the puzzle. The
first test is to see if it is longer than four digits, in which case the
loop iterates the outer loop, A. This is a case of needing to specify
the loop to iterate.
The program will still work without specifying loop A, but
will take four times as long. The reason? The program must do a
lot of unnecessary tests. If A is not specified, then the program
iterates loop E, which continues to count insignificant digits which
continue to cause a string longer than four digits to result from the
test multiplication. Keep in mind that the counters are increasing.
If B has already reached a point at which a string longer than four
places occurs, then all subsequent (larger) B's for that given A will
also cause strings longer than four places. Therefore, it is necessary
to iterate A and start B over again. This test reduces the set of test
numbers to only 1520. This number is arrived at empirically.
As an exercise, put in k=l at the start of the program and
k=k+ 1 immediately after the test number is calculated. At the end
next to theTime('E') function,
say k-1 'test combinations.'
will display the actual number of combinations tested, 1 520. This
number is lower than the "theoretical number" 10,080, because the
test for length iterates loop A early about S5"i. of the time. This
demonstrates how logical thinking can help to speed up programs
by eliminating as many unnecessary tests as possible.
The four digits represented by FGHI are completely deter-
mined if we multiply the first two numbers, but there are still tests
to be done, because there are constraints on FGHI, too. The digits
must not repeat and they must not be equal to any of the former
digits, A, B, C, D, or E. These digits must be parsed from the result
string of the test multiplication, tstnum. They are compared one at
a time to A, B, C, D, and E in a conditional test. If they match, the
inner loop E iterates because there is no point in going on with this
test answer. Again a higher level loop is iterated. The case of the
repeated digits in our test number is a bit more subtle. We initialize
a boolean array, hadthis.=0 every time we get a test answer, num.
Once the digits have been parsed off, the test
element hadthis.digit=l, so if it occurs again during the parse loop,
Z, it will trigger the forced iteration of the loop E, in the "if
hadthis.digit then iterate E" test.
The final instruction in the loop E is the SAY clause that states
the answers. If the test number gets this far it's a valid answer!
Note the use of the concatenation operators to reconstruct the
number strings. The Time() functions are included to reset and
state the elapsed time it took to find all solutions to our problem.
Since we have a variable, E, make sure to quote the 'E' in Time('E')
so that there is no invalid function argument error generated.
There are enough coding ideas in this program to help you soke ail
sorts of combinatorial type problems in statistics, probability, and
number theory.
IMM
C tfunLPunle . rnxx */
** Copyright 01394 by Merrill Callaway
** Salves the puzzle A x BCDE = FGHI
** where A-I represent the digits 1-9
** each used only once. The equation
** nruflt be true.
V
call timel 'R' )
Do A=2 to 8
if A=5 then iterate A
Do 3=1 to 9
if B-A then iterate 5
Do C*l to 9
if C-A then iterate C
If C=3 then iterate C
Do D«l to 9
if D«A then iterate D
if d=b then iterate D
if D*C then iterate D
00 E»l to 9
if e=a then iterate E
if E=B then iterate E
if E-C then iterate E
if E=D then iterate E
fnumsBl |Cl |D|]E
numaA'fnun
if length (ass)>4 then iterate A
tstnusLcnmn
hadeMs.-O
do Z=l to 4
parse var tstnum digit +1 tstnum
if diglt-0 then iterate E
if diglt»A ] digits I digits I,
digit-D | digits then iterate E
if hadthls. digit then iterate E
hadthis.digitoi
end Z
say nun ' = ' A 'x' B I I C I I D 1 1 E 'OK!
end E
end D
end C
end B
end A
say timet J E')
exit
•AC*
if hadthis.digit then iterate E
tests for the digit in the array. If it is found there, (that is,
hadthis.digit=l) then the next higher loop, E is finished, because
repeating digits are not allowed. If the test is not true, the digit has
not occurred before. The very next instruction sets the array
Please Write to:
Merrill Callaway
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fall River, MA 02722-2140
44
Amazing Computing
Amazing Computing
*' VoUJ, So B, August 1W3
i lighlights Include:
"Amiga Vision Professional", review Commodores upgraded
authoring system, bv Douglas). Nakakihara
"Arl Department Professional 2.3," review of the latest release of
AdPro from ASDG. by Merrill Call.m.is
"Professional Page 4.0," the l.llcst incarnation of Pro Page, by Rick
MstHsa
'Tseudo Radios! ty Effects," why ray tracing is not an accurate
model of true light behavior, by Mark Hoffman
'T-Kexx Professional", a review of the lltafit refaWMW of T-Rexx from
ASDG. by Merrill Callaway
ALSCh AC Phone Book: A directory of Amiga Developer*!
*' Vol.ti, Ha «. September [993
Highlights Include:
"Adventures with Aladdin"JVirt 111 ol this tutorial series on Aladdin
4 IX by R. Shamms Mortier
"Can Da, "First installment of this series for CanDo programmers, by
Randy Finch
"Caligari 24," Review of version 30 of this 24-bit software, by R.
Shamms Mortier
"Coming Attractions," A look into the future attractions in Amiga
names, by Henning Vahienkanp
ALSO: WOC A— Australia & Summer CES!
w Vol*, No 10, October 1W3
Highlights include:
"Staking Waves", FoCii* on the w a» v requester in Part IV of the
Aladdin series. R. Shamms Mortier
"Clouds in Motion," Animated clouds in Scenery Animator, by R-
Shamms Mortier
"Media Madness," Discover what it tan do for BarsicPipes, by Kick
Manasa
"ttjrs&l'ipes Professional 2.0," review by Rick Manasa
"Bernoulli MuIliDisk t50", A review of this great Iomega drive.
ALSO; Commodore's new CD32I
*' Vol.S, \o 11. November 19**3
Highlights Include:
"CanDo", This installment coven developing a custom object by
combining several standard CanDo objects, by Hands Finch.
"Brilliance," A complete review of this hot new paint and animation
program from Digital Creations, by l : rank McMahon.
"Online," 1 "he introduction of thi> new telecommunication* column
for the Amiga, by Rob Hays.
"Get Graphic: Digital Image FIX," The introduction of AC's new
graphics column, by William Frawley.
"Picasso II", A review of one of the best new graphics cards available,
by Mark Ricken.
ALSO: WOCA Pasadena: Commodore introduces CD-321 Plus, the
incredible LighlRave, .i Video Toaster emulator!
*" Vol.9, No 1, January 1^4
Highlights Include:
"Designing Holiday Cards", Using your favorite DTP programs to
create hclidav cards, bv Dan Weiss.
"Accent on Multimedia," First in a series exploring the history and
concepts behind multimedia, bv R. Shamms Mortier.
"Primera PrintcT," Review- of this low end, inexpensive color printer.
In Mk'nill Callaway.
"Commodore 1 942 Munitor," In-depth study of this comprehensive
Amiga paint package, bv R, Shamms Mortier.
\l SO Commodore Shareholders Movement
* Vol.9, No 2, February 1994
Highlights Include:
"Amiga on Internet", Exploration of Internet and its sen-ices, by
Henning Vahlenkamp.
"F.GS 25/24 Speclram," A review of this hot graphics card from CAT,
by Mark Hoffman
"Magic Lantern" A new animation compiling program for all Amiga
display modes, by R_ Shamms Mortier,
"Gel Graphic Digital Image F/X," Using ARexx, Opal Paint, ADPro,
and DeluxePaint to process imagt-s, bv v\il|iam Frawley-
ALSO: Exclusive interview with Lew Eggebrecht!
*" Vol.9, No 3. March 1*94
Highlights Include:
"Amiga Stars at Medical Convention", Medical multimedia on the
Amiga, by Michael Tobin, M.D..
"CanDo vs. HELM," Head-lo-head review h ol two leading Amiga
authoring systems, bv Randy Finch.
"PD Update," This month, a description of AfrrfPtJicft 2.9 and other
shareware and freeware utilities, by 1 terming Vahlenkamp.
"Scala MM300," A review of the program belies ed lobe "hot stuff"
!or anyone doing interactive media work, by R. Shamms Mortier.
ALSO: And furthermore: The Amiga takes the stage in the
Broadway production of The Who's Tommy!
V Vol.9, No 4, April 1944
Highlights Include:
"Computer Cafe Serve* Up Shasta", The design team at Computer
Cafe creates incredible "ca n-a*m.vtion" for a beverage commercial, bv
Robert Van Buren.
"Aladdin 4D Review," Comprehensive look at the latest version of
Aladdin, bv R. Shamms Mortier
"ACA Chipset and the Amiga: CD 32 to the Rescue!" What does the
future hold for CD32 and Amiga games? Jeff James has (he inside
scoop, bv Jeff |ames.
"Sync Tips," Video RtUCIU t'> the ptgtSOJ AC. featuring Oran Sands
ALSO: Exclusive interview with Tenowned Amiga artist Jim Sachs.
tf Vol.9, No 5. May 1994
Highlights Include:
"Desktop Publishing for Profit", Resume design: A simple and
profitable way to break into the desktop publishing field, by Dan
Weiss
"24-bit Painting Techniques," Innovative tips and tricks anyone can
use to make their computer paintings look better, by Mark Hoffman.
"PD Update," This month MfgaBaD 3 0, Motor/fa /iinafrrs. Htm World,
and more, bv 1 tenning Vahlenkamp.
"MicroBotics MBX-120W." A review of this handy math coprocessor
and 32 bit RAM add-on card for the Amiga 1200. by Kob Hays.
AI SO: The long-awaited Amiga 4000 Tower Is showcased at the
Cebit show in Germany,
* VoL9, No A June I'M
Highlights Include:
't .irtDo," SI.-h.! i-iil.T. .in I p|. is ,iiii-.i. Me-., In K.iikh I inch
"NAB show report," AC Iras els to Las Vegas for the latest releases
and announcements
"Making an Article Database," Create a simpledatjba.se to keep
track of maga/ine articles using the 1 IELM authoring system, by Doug
Nak.ikili.iT.i
"A Survival Guide to CD-ROM I 'art I," The first in a four part series
designed to take the o>iiliM>sii .ml ol CD-ROM devices, by Mark
Kick.in
"Bubbles vs Heal," largo s Primem Color Printer & Canons BJC-oOft
by Dwinn Craig.
"199; Reader's Choice Awards Ballot",
"TypeSmith 2.15," Res k-sv, In Merrill Callaway.
"The A 64 Package 3.0," litis new release brings quality C64
emulation to the Amiga, bv 1 [enuring Vahlenkamp,
"Ml Piques! 4,5 & TBOJquttlV Ravtow,bJ Shamms Mortier.
*' Vol.9, No.7, (ulv 1994
"Accent on MultiMedLi Part IV," I his installment tn\ oshgak.-s the
hardware end of the Amiga's involvement in MultiMedta by R.
Shamms Mortier.
"1994 Reader's Choice Awards Ballot," Amazing Computing's 3rd
annual Reader's Choice Awards Cast a vote for sour fasTiritc product,
"Brilliance 10,*A review of the latest update to Digital Creations'
IkilliaiHe/Troe-Brilli.niceby R. Shamms Mortier.
"Cocoon Morph," DevWare's t .noon morphing program features
motion morphing and more by K. Shamms Mortier,
"I'inJlWriler 2-0," New menu items including Undo/Redo,
Font /Style Strip and taster graphics are covered in Ihis upgrade
review by Merrill Callaway.
"Digital Image Special F/X," Displaced Textures and other new
operators found in ADPro 2.S are explored in Part V in this series by
William Frawley-
"New Products it Other Neat Stuff," Mr AMOS Club Programmer-
Pack, The Dat.il her SCH -.tun-ma 4D, lVsktopMACilC2.0, DICB.n.
Alpha Paint. Sequel s 12. turs l.i the 1 tirrn-s, Super Methane Bros..
Brutal Football. Fire it Ice round out the items found in this issue 's
New Products.
"Bug Bytes," Amiga modem connection problems: Ramworks and
Workbench 2,0 revisited; Workbench 2_ 1 Gurus & more; GVP's I/O
Extender fix are among the topics discussed in this month's Bug Bytes
byJohnSteincT.
"Inside ARexx," Create a LJUrssary iunctiuTi for Final/Writer using
ARexx by Merrill Callaway,
"Sync Tips," Video color correction with your Amiga by Oran Sands.
"Diversion," Tliis month: Hired Guns from Psygnosis Ltd., Fighter
Duel Pro 2 from Jaeger Software, and A-Train Construction Set from
Ma\:s Software.
BACK ISSUE
SPECIALS!
SEE PAGE 72
FOR DETAILS
1-800-345-3360
DIGITAL IMAGE SPECIAL FX PART XI:
Fun With Text
Create exciting styles of text with Professional Draw,
Pagestream, OpalPaint, ADPro, and ImageFX
by William Frawlcy
In times past, the spoken word was the primary means of communication for us
humans. Whole family histories, mythologies, and even esoteric mystic rituals were
passed from generation to generation using only the utterances of the vocal chords.
Indeed, our ocean cousins the cetaceans rely exclusively on sonic communication for
transference of knowledge from ancestor to progeny. Nowadays however, every
aspect of our species is chronicled in writing on enough paper and other media to
fill an entire volume of something the size of a small state. Alas, welcome to corpo-
rate society in the 20th Century.
So what does this nil mean anyway? Weil, one can notice,
upon reflection, the shift in the tmdition.il role of type from that of
informing or communicating ideas to an emphasis in modern
society on product advertising and image. Here, text is to the visual
mass media as sound bites are to the radio industry. For some of
you, this is how you earn vour livelihood, but, for the rest of vou,
the interest in informal typography may simply be another way to
explore your existing Amiga software. If that's the case, let's have
some fun with text!
Neon Type In Professional Draw
For this tutorial, Professional Draw version 3.0 is being used.
Begin by deciding what it is vou'd like to create. Is it text or some
other object? Whichever is the case, you'll be drawing or tracing
using one of the drawing tools located to the right side on the tool
bar. The goal here is to create an object using only the outline or
line weight as the substance, as Fill Mode will not come into play
here. Therefore, you cannot use a text nor an ellipse object directly.
For instance, if you plan on using vour favorite font, you'll need to
manually trace its innards with singular strokes using the Curve
Tool, since using the function Text -> Graphic would produce a
filled double-outline which will not work for this procedure. Also,
any ellipses used as an element must he converted to a graphic
object with the Ellipse -> Bezier function so we may access the
object's Line parameters. For this exercise, I'll describe the process
to you from a generic standpoint, but feel free to follow my
example as shown in Figures 1 A-D.
First, trace or draw out the basic shape using one of the
supplied drawing tools — the Curve, Rectangle, Ellipse or
Freehand tool. The procedure must be one continuous stroke or a
singular shape in order to yield exactly one object. As seen in
Figure 1A, I traced a text object using the Freehand tool in order to
simulate the effect of one of those ubiquitous neon beer signs
hanging in vour local tavern's window, Remember, if you've used
the Ellipse tool, you must then use the menu item Ellipse -> Bezicr
so it becomes alterable.
Next, make sure that under the Attributes menu item Fill,
None is selected for this object. Now choose a Line Weight of 2
points and a Line Join of Round to mimic the glass ends of a neon
sign. Select a Line Color with very little saturation and a high value
component, say a light red. You may have to enter the Palette in
order to create your own if there are none currently available to
your satisfaction. Now for the final phase.
Clone this object by pressing the Tab key, Move the new object
off to the side so it is out of the way of the original object. With this
new object still selected, change the Line Color to a darker value
and fully saturated version of the same hue. Also, change the Line
Weight to a Custom value of .25 inches. Drag this object directly
underneath theorigin.il object so they are both centered with one
another and use the Send To Back command on the new object to
place it behind the skinny guy.
Lsing the Marquee tool, drag select around both objects so
they are both active and then select the menu item Blend (Figure
1C). In the Blend Options requester, set the Number of Steps to
between 5 and 10 and leave the transformation type lo the default
Linear. Okay the requester and you should be looking at your new
neon object (Figure ID), You may now want to again use the
Marquee tool to select all the layered objects in order to group them
for ease of handling later on.
This Blend function works great for creating color blends and
also gives the ability to niorph one object into another via a shape
blend. A handy little function. However, if you don't have any of
the available structured drawing programs for the Amiga, you can
still accomplish identical results with Pagestream with just a little
more effort.
Chrome Type In Pagestream
Despite the name, a chrome style in essence is the exact same
result as the neon style except for the color scheme. With a few
minor alterations in procedure to allow for functional differences
between ProDraw and Pagestream, we can crank out some chrome
that will make even Detroit jealous. Okay, a slight exaggeration on
my part. Let's give it a try anyhow.
46
Amazisg Computing
FunWithTexM (Right)
Creating a neon style of type. After tracing out the text with the Freehand
drawing tool, change the color and line type (A). Change the Line Join to
Round, clone this, alter the new object's color to a more saturated version and
finally increase the Line Weight to .2 inches (B). Place underneath the original,
select both and then linearly Blend the two in 5 steps (C) resulting in lovely
neon objects (D).
In Pagestream, trace or draw your object using one of the supplied drawing
tools. Unlike using ProDraw, the final object does not have to be composed of
one continuous line. You may use as many broken lines, circles and rectangles as
necessary because our approach this time will, out of necessity for this version
2.22 of Pagestream, not make any use of a Blend tvpe function. Again, it text is
your goal, you cannot simply use the Text tool and alter the line parameters
because there are none for the text itself, only for the text's bounding box. You
must, as I did in Figure 2A, use one of the drawing tools, in this case the Polygon
tool, to manually trace out the basic shape of the text.
Once you have your lines drawn, drag out a bounding box around all die
elements and Group them together. You may also delete the text if you were
using it as a tracing template as it is no longer needed. Now select the Object-
Line Style menu item and in the requester choose Rounded Edges for both
beginning and ending sides, a Width of IS points, and Black for the color (Figure
2A). Okav the requester.
Next, select the Object-Duplicate menu item to access the Duplicate Objects
requester. Enter 4 in Copies and change both the Vertical and Horizontal Offsets
to 0. This will make four copies of this object, all placed exactly on top of each
other. Now select the topmost copy and change its Line Width to 10 and its Line
Color to a Grey 10% (very light grey). If you haven't already, you'll need to
arrange a spread of greys from black to white using the Edit Color Palette for this
effect. Use the Send To Back command to access the next available object in the
stack and continue to increment the Line Width bv two and darken the grey Line
Color until you reach the original object, whose settings remain as they are. Then
send this object to the back. Is it chrome or is it Memorex (Figure 215)?
Photo Type Using Pagestream And ADPro
Exactly what is Photo Type? Briefly, instead of a solid or gradient color font,
the type uses an image to fill the interior. Both this text and related image filling
the text more effectively communicates to the reader the theme of a page or
graphic project. It is a fairly straightforward procedure to accomplish. The basic
idea is to take some text and composite it with a background image while
"matting" out the color of the text so that only the image appears in the area
once occupied by the text. To accomplish this, we'll use Pagestream to create the
text and ADPro lor the compositing engine. Of course, anv image processing
..... i.. .
0*s ft
O 1 ! M
• "
0> M
...
OOrMw [
™
CHRniTlE
a ■■
i -i i ,< j i .
ciHionn
LZ
Imported
ProDraw Clip
FunWithText_2
Using the same principle as neon type tor chrome, except slightly different procedures in Pagestream. First, the object, in this
case text, is outlined with the Polygon tool and the Line Style parameters are changed (A). After grouping the individual
elements, the object is Duplicated several times but with no offset, so all elements lie exactly on top of each other (B). Using
the Send To Back command, the Line Styles of each successive element are then adjusted to 'blend' in color and width with its
neighbor for a convincing chrome effect. A comparison showing the difference between the native Pagestream chrome and
an imported ProDraw clip. Note the ragged artifacting to the edges of the clip (C). _^
September 1994
47
FunWithText_3
Steps to create Photo Headline Type. Arrange the text in
Pagestream and then save as an IFF tile at the desired
resolution (A). Load an appropriate background image into
ADPro (B), Composite the text image over the background
image with the text color transparent (C). Import the new
Photo Text back into Pagestream as an IFF image, now
replacing the original text previously on the page (D). The
composed page is now ready to be taken to the printer (E).
program such as ImageFX, OpalPaint and ImageMaster will work,
but ADPro is slightly faster.
We will be using Pagestream to create the text because if you
are producing nn 8 1 /2 x 11 magazine ad, tor example, and your
text runs the full width of the page, you'll need an image to fill that
text approximately 2401) pixels wide. And with Pagestream's IFF
output option, we can then have access to the entire Postscript
library of fonts and be able to maintain print resolution, as long as
we have an image that large. However, for this example we'll stick
to using a screen-size image. Please refer to this same column in the
March "94 issue of Amazing Computing for further explanation of
"Pagestream Super-Bitmaps."
To begin, set your page dimensions to about 7"x5", pick a font
and large point size and then type your text. Select the Global menu
item Configure Printer and in the Print Document requester load
the 1FFILBM, Printer driver that came with Pagestream (Figure 3A).
Now Print this document with a resolution of 100, 100 dpi to an IFF
file given an appropriate name. Check this file with an image
viewer, note its size and then quit Pagestream.
Next, run ADPro and load in an appropriate background
image that is at least as large as the text image you just created with
Pagestream (Figure 315). Now Composite the text image onto the
background image making sure that you choose black (0,0,0) as the
transparent color (Figure 3C). Crop this resulting image as close to
the photo text as possible and then save it as a 24-bit IFF for
importing back into your page layout software (Figure 3D). When
the project is fully composed, you'll see how much the Photo Type
adds to the overall completeness of the idea (Figure 3E).
OpalPainting And ImageFX Graffiti
Next, we'll take a look at choosing the proper parameters to
set in order to get a convincing spray paint look for text painted
over a background image. Both ImageFX and OpalPaint contain
similarly excellent tools for achieving this effect. The key to realism
in both of these programs lies in the use of the Alpha channel to
"texture" the application of the paint in the main channel.
By copying the exact same background image to the Alpha
channel, the bright/dark values will act as an 8-bit frisket or mask
to control what areas receive more or less "paint." in other words,
the darker areas in the Alpha channel will block most of the color
from being applied, whereas the lighter areas will allow virtually
all the color "through the holes." So with the identical image in the
Alpha buffer, those areas that are dark in the original image, say the
crevices of a brick, will remain dark even when while "paint" is
liberally applied.
Trv this. Load an image into either ImageFX or OpalPaint; a
texture map of bricks do nicelv. In ImageFX, from the Toolbox
select Alpha and then Copy To Alpha to place an 8-bit copy of the
image into the Alpha channel. Now double-click the Airbrush Tool
and set the Airbrush Options as follows:
MODE:
Matte FJLEND:
50% ALPHA:
Use As Frisket RADIUS:
15 NOZZLE:
50 ROUGH:
25 SPRAY MODE:
Spray
Pick a color and start painting. Draw as fast as you would with a
real spray can (medium speed), depending on how thick you want
the paint to be applied.
In OpalPaint, once the image is loaded, enter the Alpha Work
Mode by double-clicking on 'AL' to enter the Alpha Paint Options
IS
Ama/.isg Computixg
_
_ _
FunWithText_4
With the proper brush settings and the use of
the Alpha channel as a frisket, a very realistic
spraypaint effect can be achieved in both
ImageFX and OpalPaint.
*i»
PI 1
L
panel for the Alpha channel. Once there, select Grey Scale for the
Fdil Mode and Paste Image under (he Alpha Functions section. As
before, this copies the image in the main channel to the Alpha
channel in grey scale,
Now reenter the Lidit Image 'IT Work Mode and double-click
on the largest Circular Brush tool to edit the nozzle parameters.
Select the Artist Tool Airbrush with a Tool Weight of around 50
and Re-Size the nozzle to about I cm. Fxit this requester.
Lastly, access the Transparency Control requester under Trans
and change the transparency mode to Alpha with a Strength of
100%, This will allow the Alpha channel to act as a transparency
mask for your painting operations. That's it. Now start spray-
painting, but try to keep it clean (Figure 4)!
Rough-Edge Type In Professional Draw
Well, this brings us lull circle back to ProDraw for a quick
look at how to rough Lip the edges of your headline type. Hev,
where ya going? This is easy! but before we do begin, have you
tried converting some of your Postscript fonts into Compugraphic
format for use in ProDraw? Believe it or not, the included
FontManager actually works for most of the Postscript fonts that I
have encountered. Just pick and click, then run the CGUpdate
utility so ProDraw recognizes these new
fonts and you have expanded your
arsenal of available typefaces to manipu-
late. So run ProDraw and let's get started.
After typing some text, use the Text -
> Graphic function to allow us to edit the
Line parameters (Figure 5A), Make sure
the Line and Fill Color are the same,
preferably one of the primary colors so
you get a better idea of how this works.
Next, set the Line Weight to 2 points.
Finally, here's the critical step — please pay
attention! Change the Line Pattern to the small
dashes as shown in Figure 513. Fh-hmm, told you
this was simple. II you plan on doing something
with this veritable masterpiece, Define the clip
and then save it. You may need to use it in a
Pagestream or Prol'age project. Read on.
You also have the option of importing these
ProDraw clips into Pagestream to use in your
layouts (Figure 5C). As I said before, because
there is no way to turn a text object into a graphic made up of
bezier curves in Pagestream, importing a ProDraw clip made up
entirely of bezier curves allows you to properly edit the Line and
Fill Styles of the new text object lor more flexibility (Figure 3D).
Epilogue
I apologize to those readers who were looking for another
ARexx script this month, but this time was unfortunately spent on
close examination of Commodore's dire situation. I lopefully by the
time vim read this, something substantial will have happened. But
for now the latest rumor is that a majority of Amiga's engineers
took up employment with Scala. Flmm, boy do 1 hate rumors. Until
next month, have fun with the coolest machine ever made...
Please Write to:
William Frawley
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fail River, MA 02722-2140
•AO
FunWifhText_5
To add a rough edge to your text or
other objects in ProDraw, convert the
text to an editable object and
increase the Line Weight (A). Now
simply change the Line Pattern to one
of the dashed lines (B). This ProDraw
clip can then be imported into
Pagestream for further adjustments if
necessary (C) & (D).
I© _
[Qk*
......
•:>■-•* m
1 r,
1 .1 r.
*> ft
1 "
* M
" "■■
'■
-Jr^A
■ 14 [>■** In. I*l>
I « I
I
R®u9h I
R^ughilReu^
Sf.PTI-MM.R J 994 49
cli
directory
by
Keith Cameron
NewShell Revisited
Several columns ago, I wrote about how to customize the Shell window. I
explained some difficulties I had and how I had gotten around those difficul-
ties. Since then, several readers have written in to share some of their tricks in
customizing the Shell window. I would like to share these at this time.
Randy Tetuie of Virginia wrote in with one suggestion for
resizing the Shell window at startup. If you recall, I wanted the
Shell window to fill the screen when 1 opened it, rather than
opening to a window a third the size of the screen. Here is how
Randy handled the problem.
First, make a copy of the Shell icon. The easiest way to do this
is from the Shell. You will need to rename it (I named mine
ShellTest), so here is what you would type at the prompt:
COPY Shell.info Sheiltest.info <RETURN>
Next, select the new icon from the Workbench; remember that
"select" means to click on the icon onlv once. After selecting it, go
to the "ICONS" menu and select "Information." Next, change the
default tool to "C:IconX" and delete any tool types that exist. If vou
have neveT been in this tool windoiv before, this may appear
confusing. However, once you are actually looking at the window,
you will see that all of this is very clearlv labeled. While in the
"Information" window, go ahead and click on the "Executable" and
"Script" buttons in the upper right-hand corner. This will enable
you to execute your new script file from either the Workbench or
the Shell.
Now you will need to create two script files. You can easily
use ED for this, but any text editor will do just fine. The first script
file will have the same name as the icon, so mine would be called
ShellTest. Here is what Randy suggests thai vou enter. Bv the way,
put all of it on a single line.
run >ML: cfNEWSHELL WINDOW:NEWCON:0/u/640/190/
ShellTest FROM
ShellTest-Start
Some of you may experience problems with this. If so, you can
make slight changes, such as changing NEWCON to CON. This
script, of course, sets the size and name your new Shell window
will have.
The second script file you will create is referred to in the final
words of the above script: ShellTest-Start Here is what Randy-
suggests you type here:
Prompt "";.N."iiS> "
Execute Aliases
path reset
execute Paths
cd dh2:print
run dh2:lc/c/lse teste
run >N1L: clock D1GITAL2=
,IW 1 2HOUR SECONDS
This lile is used to customize more personally Randy's Shell.
The "aliases" and "paths" referred to above are actually two other
scripts that Randy uses, so you would omit these from your script.
The final line of the script starts a digital clock that will run at the
bottom of Randy's window, so you could omit this line. You could
also delete any or all of the other lines. The first line, of course,
establishes what vour prompt will look like. I discussed how this
command is used in my original column on this subject. Some
50
Amazisg Compvtisg
prompt suggestions, by the way, will soon follow, and you may
want to trv some of them in your script.
Gene Edwards out in California lias an easv way of dealing
with [lie situation. First, enter the NewSheU line to so! your
dimensions (you could use the ShellTest file line above, minus the
"From SheUTeSt-Start") in a script file. I le suggests you save this
script file to your 's' directory and set the script bit using the
PROTECT command. Now you can execute the new window using
the "Execute" command from the Workbench or by using the Shell.
Of course, if you want other types of customization (different
prompt, etc.) vou need to set those up in a different file, as Randy
did. Hugh DeVVitt of Maine wrote in with a similar solution.
Since we are dealing with the Shell in this column, I'd like to
end by forwarding some ideas about the Shell prompt sent to me by
Of course, if you wont other
types of customization (different
prompt, etc.) you need to set
those up in a different file.,.
Douglas Nelson of Nebraska, henceforth to be known as "The
Prompt Man." Douglas lias discovered some interesting things
about the prompt.
First, type this in at your Shell prompt:
PROMPT "%n.%s>Ctrl-N" <RETURN>
Of course, where I have "Ctrl-N" vou will have a single entry
(hold down the control key while you hit the N key). When you
type anything in at the prompt, it will appear in foreign characters.
You can still execute commands, for only the screen output is
different. To return to normal, simply type PROMPT at the prompt
and hit enter.
Douglas has also learned how to get a prompt consisting only
of time. Normally, both the date and the time would appear. To do
so, you need to type this:
PROMPT "*'echo '"""■date*"' >" Ion 10*"'
When vou execute this line, you will have a prompt consisting
only of the current time. Of course, vou need an internal clock for
this to work effectively. Otherwise, you would have to set the time
whenever you booted.
Finally, Douglas suggests a wav to create a line feed after the
prompt. Mere is how it is done:
PROMPT "%n.%s*n"
Once vou have this prompt, vou will type in your command
line on the next line. It is a nice change. I must admit. Don't ask me
to explain why or how these tricks work. Douglas explained things
to me, but 1 don't have enough smarts to compress the information
briefly; I'd have to reprint Douglas's letter word for word. Thanks
again, Douglas.
VideoStase Pro
Low-cost , Full-featured
Interactive Authoring System
VideoStagc Pro sports dozens of features not found on any oilier author-
ing system. An easy-to-use interface, wide variety of professional
quality transitions, timeline view and niceties such us automatic checking
for video "hot colors" make creating animated titles and syncing sound
(o graphics and animations a snap. Over 60 transitions, backdrops, fonts
and button brushes give you the tools to get you started today! Plus use
any of your own IFF or Anim 5 Hies. Support for several sound formats
ncluding AudioMaster and MODS. Create stand-alone kiosks or add
remote control feature of VideoSlage Pro + and remotely manage mult-
pic kisoks via modem or networks pius scheduled show play and morel
"Video Siage Pro is clear and very easy to get the hang of. It's probably
easier to use than the Workbench."
"VideoSlage Pro can be used on so many different levels. You can create
snazzy logos for your home videos, or produce professional presentations"
Amiga Formal March 1994
VideoStane Pro $179.95 MSRP VideoStujjc Pro + $499.95 MSKP
Upgrades from VideoTitieror ANIMagic
eoStage Pro available
Distributed in Canada by
Info Touch Systems. Inc.
#105-13483 78th Ave.
Surrey. BC V3W 2Y2
Phone: 604-572-4636
Published by Ox.vi, Inc.
PO Box 90309
Long Beach. CA 90809
Phone: .110-427-1227 V^/AA* •/.'■■.
FAX: 3 10-427-097 1 Cal1 for DL ' nl( ' Disk!
Oxxiin
Circle 159 on Reader Service Card
I enjoy hearing what other people are doing out there. Please
continue sending in your suggestions and scripts. I would ask,
though, that when sending anything in, please trv to keep it
generic. In other words, trv to provide information in such a way
that it would work for any Amiga user on any Amiga computer. I
have received several scripts that arc used to run specific programs,
and those are hard for me to interpret (remember, my elevator
doesn't go all the way to the top floor anymore).
One topic I'd like to hear suggestions for is a comparison of
MS-DOS and AmigaDOS machines. I use both rather extensively.
At home, 1 tend to use my Amiga more, but at work, I am forced to
use an IBM more. I really do enjoy both machines and I like the
challenge of trying to be proficient on both. However, 1 often find
myself using MS-DOS syntax in my Amiga Shell and vice-versa. Is
there anything about the MS-DOS command line that is preferable
to the Amiga Shell? What do you like belter about the Amiga Shell.
This should make an interesting column. And if the powers that be
happen to read it, perhaps some changes will be forthcoming that
would make the Amiga even better than ever. Let me hear from
you!
•AC*
Please Write to:
Name Name
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fall River. MA 02722-2140
September 1994
51
Ishar II AGA Revisited
Brian J. Bartlett sent EMail with a tew tips for readers regarding the
June, 1994 Bug Bvtes. He writes, For Pete, no last name, concerning
Ishar 11 AGA: Frequently, you need to make sure that any fonts and
special files, continued in the floppy c:, devs:, I:, and libs: directories, to
your hard disk. Fonts are the keif, usually, since that's the usual problem
with many manually installed games. One caution however, do not just do
a blanket copy of Hie files contained in the c:, etc., directories. You may
overwrite your system copies with incompatible versions, For Jeffrey
Powell, concerning Fontier: Turn off any screen blankers you may have
running. Some people luroe problems with them running while playing
Frontier.
ARexx and Mathieeedoubbas.lib
Mr. Bartlett continues. Far Jeff Harris, mathieeedoubbas. library and
ARexx: I can't help with the problem directly. However, William Howes £9
online at CompuServe regularly and can be contacted at 72230,267 (or
7223Q.267@COmpuserve.com via Internet (note the periods)). He is
currently surveying registered users to determine if another update should
be done. More on Rexxmast follows.
Amiga Print Problems With Okidata Printers
William Merrill sent EMail regarding printing problems with his
Amiga 1200. He writes, / am having trouble getting my Okidata 184
Mkroline Turbo Printer to print properly with Final Copy on my
A1200HD. 1 am using the only Driver that appears to work, the OKIJI2
Driver. The Problem is, that after every 6 lines or so, The Printer puts a
big blank space through the characters on that line. Can you 1 lelp?
This problem definitely is related to the print driver you are
currently using. In fact, I have noticed that Okidata printers seem to
he troublesome when it comes to finding compatible drivers. The
exceptions to this are the Okidata 24 pin printers which seem to
work fine when using the Epson LQ driver, and the Okidata laser
printers which work tine when using HP Laserjet drivers. Any
comments for Mr. Merritt?
Chip RAM and the A600
Donald Jones sent EMail regarding the A600 and chip RAM. He
writes, On all Amigas save the A3000 and, 1 think, 4000, chip RAM is
limited lo 1MB (on the above systems its 2MB) However, I have an Amiga
600 with 2MB CHIP RAM, expandable lo 3MB. I know it's chip because
WorkBcnch says so on its memory usage. Also, I ran two programs
requiring 1 MB chip RAM simultaneously. I think that needs some
explanation especially since the A600 is a low-end Amiga.
SetPatch Tips
Dale Larson sent EMail regarding the mention of the SetPatch
utility in the July 1994 Bug Bytes. He notes, Commodore occasionally
makes available new ivrsions of the SetPatch program. This program is
executed in the standard startup-sequence and fixes bugs in the operating
system. Hence, having the latest SetPatch is a Good Thing.
Unfortunately, there has been some confusion over which SetPatch
to use with which machine. Here is the story. 2,04 (i<37) users must use a
v37 SetPatch. This is because the display database and monitor files in i<37
are full of problems, and the v37 SetPatch is very specific to those
problems.
The monitor files are fixed in 2.1 and up. Hence, 2.1 users (those who
liazv a 2.04 or 2.05 ROM and the 2.1 workbench disks installed) can use a
v38 or higher SetPatch. The v39 ami v40 SetPatches -will work with 2.1,
while the x>37 SetPatch will not. As of this writing, the most recent
SetPatches that Commodore has released to the nets are 40.14 and 37.38.
Therefore, il you have 2.1 or better, get the most recent SetPatch you
can find (40.14 or higher), and if you are still using 2.04. cither upgrade to
2.1, or 11st* the latest v37 SetPatch you can find (37.38 or higher).
More on Mathieeedoubbas.lib
Maxwell Davmon writes regarding several items in the June 1994
Bug Byles, regarding mathieeedoubbas.library He writes,
Using Kickstart 39.106 (3.0) and Workbench 39.29 (3.0) the
machine definitely crashes when tn/ing to gel the version of
mathieeedoubbas.library after loading Rexxmast. The problem is NOT
"obviously" RexxMast as newer releases of 3.0 don't seem to have this
problem, ami replacing the version command that comes with JI9.29 with
the one released with OS 2.1 -works well (no crashes). In fact, I've had a
number of problems with the OS 3,0 (39.29) "version " command which
leads me to believe that it is not properly reading opened libraries
correctly. 1 always have RexxMast running and have NEVER had a single
problem getting a version of a library it's using with a newer or older
version command. The offending command is "version 39.4 (27. 9.92)".
Replace it with "version 38.4 (4.3,92)" and everything should work fine.
52
A MAZISG Co.MI'l 7 / vr.
Workbench 3.0 Monitor Drivers
Regarding Alternate DBL(NTSC/PAL) monitor drivers, Mr.
Daymen notes, Some of the OS 3.0 drivers do not have good screen
positioning on some monitors. There are a few ways to solve this.
MonEd3.x will alloio you to tweak the values and save them for future
use, and the nciv version of "Overscan" preferences editor from Amine!
will not only allow you to position the screen within the overscan area, but
also allows you to position the overscan area itself.
Final Writer Memory Suggestion
John Morris sent EMail regarding Barlow Soper's questions
regarding Final Writer mentioned in the June 1994 Bug Bytes. Mr.
Morris writes,
When 1 first upgraded from Final Copy to Final Writer, 1 found
several instances in which parts of pages or sometimes -whole pages would
come out blank. The problem was that 1 didn't have enough RAM (3 MB
A 1200) for the computer to generate the graphics data to send to the
printer. Final Writer never complained about not having enough RAM, it
just printed blank when it came to it's limit. The problem went azoay when
I added 4 MB of fast RAM, along with an '030 accelerator.
A1960 Monitor Support
Gregg Baldwin of Seattle, VVA sent EMail with a response to Robert
Austin's question on 1960 monitor support in the June 1994 Bug
Bytes. He writes,
In response to the question by Robert Austin about 1960 monitors I
Have found this: 1 too had the same troubles with my monitor drivers. All
of my low syncing modes (PAL/NTSC/Euro36) tended to be on one side of
the screen, -while higher ones (DBl/Multiscan/Euro72) tended to be on the
other. The Overscan program did not help much, as there ivas always a
large black area on the side of the display, and anything in overscan was
cut off.
I found that the new drivers that are for use with the 1942 monitors
work with the 1960 monitor as well. Not only are they cleaned up a little,
but the package includes a new Overscan program that works just like the
older version, but also includes lite ability to shift the screen to fit correcllif
within the 1960's limits. Use this to align theedges with that of the
NTSC/PAL screen mode so that you do not have to use the "H. Phase"
controls anymore,
On a side note, She Supcr72 mode does not fit well on a 1960. There
are huge black kmrders on the lop, bottom, and left side. Only manual
adjustments can fix this normally, but there is a ivay to get around this.
There is a program called "MonEd" by Raul Sobon that is available that
lets you adjust your settings. This will help you adjust it to fill your entire
monitor. There is a bug however, in that you must place your Super72
driver in your WBStartup drawer if you adjust specific aspects of your
monitor (the ones you need to get the Super72 to work right require you to
do this}.
More Problems With 80000003 Errors
Harry Miktarian of San Francisco, CA writes regarding his
experience with WB 2.1 and the A1QO0. He writes,
I thought I zoos the only Amiga 1000 owner who was experiencing
WB 2.1 problems. I, like Eric Meyers in your April 94 issue, also have a
major problem with 80000003 errors.
My Amiga WOO lias an Insider 11 board with 1.5 MB, a Kickslarl
■with 2.05 ROM, and an AdSpeed board. 1 boot from a 52 MB hard drive
in my DataFlyer 1000 chassis. 1 have grounded my Pal chips to the mother
board ground and have a wire running from the C31 to pin 7 on the f02, 1
also have a +5v source to pin 49 on the CPU socket to eliminate power and
grounding problems in the 1000.
As lold by AC Tcth =3.4 and Amiga World Aug. 9}...
One Company Still Supports The Amiga!
TOne Amiga language lias stood the test of time.
his new package represents the fourth major upgraded release
of F-Basic since 1988. Packed with new features,
5.0 is the fastest and fullest yet. The power of C with the
friendliness of BASIC. Compatibility with all Amiga
plalforms through the 4000... compiled assembly
object code with incredible execution times...
features from all modern languages, an
AREXX port, PAL and ECS/AGA chip
set support. ..Free technical support...
This is the FAST one you've
read so much about!
Supports DOS
1.3, 2,0, 2.1 and 3.0
F-BASIC 5.0™ System $99,95
Includes Compiler, Linker, Integrated
Editor Environment, User's Manual, & Sample
Programs Disk.
F-BASIC 5.0™ + SLDB System
As above with Complete Source Level DeBugger.
tollable Only From, DELPHI NOETIC SYSTEMS, INC (605) 348"0791
P.O. Bo< 7722 Rapid City. SD 57709.7722
Send Check Of Money Order or Wrrte ror Inlo. Ca I With Credit Card or COO,
Fan (605) 343-472B Overseas Distributer Inquiries Welcome
/ have done all these modifications because I thought this might be
the culprit of my random S0000003 errors, no such luck. 1 seem onh/ to get
these errors when trying to print from Pages! ream 2.2 or -when using
Proper Grammar II. Software that 1 use that does work perfectly is
ProWriie 3.3, OctaMcd, SuperBase 2, AMOS, and numerous PD tools
and applications. When I try to print from Pagestream, the system crashes
ivith the aliave error. It will occasionally work if I use the loivest dot pitch
in Epson Q mode (1 normally use Cannon drivers). This seems to have
gotten worse when 1 added the hard drive and/or some of the above
modifications. It has ahvays guru'ed (at least 80% of the time I've tried to
print. Soft-Logik has tried their best but also seemed baffled. Proper
Grammar 11 gets the 80000003 guru about halfway through any paper.
First the screen goes gray, then I have to reboot and this is when the error
appears (Pagest ream's screen goes black and then gives the error or
sometimes does the above mentioned gray thing).
AI000 and 14.4 KB Modem Problem Revisited
Harry Miktarian also sent EMail regarding Greg Suire's modem
problems mentioned in the July 1994 Bug Bytes.
Concerning Mr. Suire's problem with getting his 14.4 Zoom modem
to work on his Amiga 1000. 1 am now running a SupraFax modem 14.4
with no problems. 1 say "now" because I blew my first Supra by lr\/ing to
use a gender switcher instead of a dedicated A WOO cable. I do not know
what the pin outs are on the Zoom but if it by chance is getting the +12w
on the wrong line "POW. " He did not mention what sort of cable he was
using or what sort of processor he is running (a 68000 might not be fast
enough for 14.4). I suggest getting a A1000 serial cable front Redmond
and testing his modem to make sure it wasn't damaged (the flashing MR
light does not sound good). 1 wish him luck!
September 1994
53
v«
©tf
Diamond Scan 20C $795.00
CRT Size:
Resolution:
Scan Frequency:
Control Panel:
2(y/lffVlew
IU12I x 7(58 [
hou x ujo Nl
ir,.7 38kHz II
fiO !K)1 1/ v
Digital
Diamond Scan 20A $695.00
CRTSIas 2o"'/l!>'Yi.u-
Resolution: lo'il x 7<;.s ]
800 x (icio Nl
Semi Kri-iiiu-ncy: 15.7 .HHkllz II
45 HOIIz V
Control Panel: Analog
•30DAYMONEYBACK GUARANTEE
• OTHERPHODUCTS AVAILABLE
■LBffrEDQOAMTTY
r * <CALLI0DAY!
/TTT
The
\fe
deo
orks
25 Beta C't # N. San Ramon, CA W583 / Phone: 80(1-838-1031 / Fax: 510-838-1
Circle 1 10 on Reader Service Card
Bill ilohnenberger also sunt I- Mail with a comment on Mr. Suite's
modem problem.
It has been my experience that high-speed modems must have high-
qualify cables in order to work properly. I sttggesl that Greg Suircgets a
cable from the modem manufacturer if lie wants to fore himself a tot of
grief. After going through this once myself, I never buy made-in-the-third
world modem cables. The few extra bucks are well spent.
More A3000 Questions
Brett Johnson sent ,1 follow-up KM.iil letter regarding his A3000
System. He writes,
) would like to extend my appreciation about the printing of my
letter alum! my A3000 problems and the problems with tny 2091 in the
July 1994 issue. In the time that has elapsed between the first letter I sent
and the July '94 publishing. 1 have upgraded a little bit (but am still
having the same problems). I have upgraded the A3000 2.04 OS that was
installed an my hard disk (running on the A2000) to 2.1 designed for all
A migas. I have changed the 6.6 boot ROM s on the 2091 to version 7.0. 1
have also called the company that I bought the 2.05 Kickstart from
wondering if that chip had anything to do with it. They assured me that an
A2000 revision 4.2 motherboard could handle the new Kickstart (although
they might have gotten this information from the now dying Commodore).
I checked for a fuse on the A3000 serial port as described in Amazing
Computing, July 1994. page 29. second column, fourth paragraph from the
"Kickstart 2.05 ROMs and Early A500s" title. I could not find one on my
re-vision 9/01 motherboard. When the repair man plugged in a good power
supply, he said all of the chips did gel hot. I! am now questioning his
judgment for not pulling my S MB of fast RAM and extra megabyte of
chip HAS I before plugging in the power supply (they are all dead now
along with the other chips).) I have tried booting VVB 1.2 from the 2.05
R( >AI (hoping that the lesser command set will make a difference) and
have had minimal success.
I have run some tests taking out the 2097 card and booting from
floppy. Everything seems to run well except for an occasional guru that
i;i> up every now and then (no i loser than one hour intervals). ( )f course
it is kind of hard to run programs on an A2O00 with only one floppy and 1
MB of RAM. I have also had a chance to plug the 2091 into an A4000/
030. The entire card (RAM and hard disk) seemed to work just fine (it
wasn't in that long: the A4000 test seems to contradict the idea of a had
2091. though). I remind you that the 209x series was created for A2000's
and A2500's. The design was later integrated into the A3000
motherboard,
I have found a mail order company that sells A3000 components. 1
have ordered a new power supply, a new daughterboard, and a refurbished
motherboard. If yon know of any good buni-in software programs for the
. 13000, please let me know.
John Kellnerof Pt. Placencia, Belize, Central America, wrote with a
question about his A3000 and Workbench 1.3 boot problems. He
writes,
J have an early model A3000, 25 MHz. 50 MH that came with Sys.
2.0 and since updated to 2.04. I have A-Max II. A23H6 and PC SVGA
graphics boards installed. I have 14 MR of RAM and 2 MR Chip memory.
1 recently replaced the hard drive with a 240 MB Quantum drive. In doing
^.j I copied all my Wli_2.x partition from the old drive to a Syquesl
cartridge to copy onto the new hard drive but unfortunately did not copy
the WB_1 .x partition.
Everything works fine except I can no longer cold l*oot to Sys. 1.3
from the hard drive as before I changed driivs. 1 created the U'6_I.:v
partition giving it a boot priority ofO a- recommended and copied all the
file- from my 1.3 boot disk. The boot disk works fine.
When 1 cold boot with both right and left mouse buttons down the
screen comes up with the choice as before and the 1 .3 hard drive button is
not shadowed out. However when 1 click on the 1.3 hard drive button I
always receive the message "Error reading 2.3 Kickstart file! Reboot
system," No matter how many times 1 have updated the Kickstart in Sys.
2.04, it makes no difference.
You are either missing the Kickstart 1 .3 file, or it's damaged,
The Workbench 1 .3 operating system, like VVB 2.\ requires a
Kickstart file. You will find the 1 .3 Kickstart file on your 1.3 system
disks that came with the A30U0. Reinstalling VVB 1.3 using the
supplied system disks should restore VVB 1.3 operation.
That's all for Ihis month. If you have any workarounds or
bugs to report, or if von know of any upgrades to commercial
software, you may notify me by writing to:
John Steiner
c/o Amazing Computing
Box 2140
Fall River, MA 02722
...or leave EMail to
John Steiner on Portal
73075,1735 on CompuServe
Internet mail can be sent to
John_Steiner@eup.portal.com
FAX John Steiner at (701)280-0764
(8:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Central time, Monday-Friday)
•AC*
S I Amazing Computing
'kHjk
-;>-«-'./
Wt.lCZAMr
gonworld
Un A Shoestring
h Les Paul Robley
o
^n e c OU , d probab g^l. in his stories.
ftfak movies," dream-like r/ ,,m immunity m ore than h
**«*•> a gHmmerof it mig ™f «*» would have thought
&me ^tsarh st scouS s "th ebef ° rethe year 200I7 8
^hing the ,e ntacle f^ "™ h<? ""^ °" fte » a " «fer
*"*« would be things " *** ** ^<™I
heanng S t even s ie j, h W the past , especia „
he'd known co mpu t er J ^2 ^ " Jurass * Park," that if
*v *d, h e W o U rd ss ssar (ca) ,ooked - ««5
CQ is becoming fe s(er ™? *" '^^ «**** built
«e effects shows at a price that
-■«■■» no,a deciding whether it's 'rfi " m,nakere a PP««ch the
Struc ^or a c rnp U te rK n Dj ^ ^P" <° nav <^ model con-
'-ks just as reai , one J n J«J-» scan and the rendering
™«s far, film-ouahty CQ has h * "* ^a' " wi » 5
-st low-budget plucLEi^ nPriCed ° Ut0f ' h -each of
« ,e, ^'on productions. SSSSSS * *" "** ° f **»
P ummet and chip s become m or< ? ' J 2 f ^ COntinu * *>
«Imm akers will be abJe J *™« f^rful, more and more
made themselves available as th Si " ""^ h ° Uses "-e
aggressively marketing thei scan^ T ** bUreai ' s '
are dro DD1 „„ r« ?Jj £ ™mg/recording services, so pria ,
»t's Motion Pixel, p a c,7 it ."
Septe.
mber 1994
:■'--■"
■*■■'
S«S
■fl
Title Digital, RGB Laboratories and Optica] Cinema Service at one
time relied on proprietory file formats which made il difficult for
low-end computer users to employ. Now they accommodate
several of the most popular file formats, such as PICT, which
anyone using SGI to Macintosh to Amiga can utilize and make
economically feasible.
Paul Gentry, visual effects supervisor and DP at Vl'X Digital
(lull Moon Fntei'toinmonl's digilal right arm), realized early on that
to produce science fiction and fantasy films economically, they
must resort to an in-house computer work station for CGI and
digital compositing. "The reason we set up this department is
because we do so many genre films here and we have so many
effects shots," he said. "For years the houses around town have
charged such a premium for blue screen. I'm trying to make blue
screen look like a nothing, a minimal expense. Also, 1 want to
obtain control of trie shots right under the auspices of the effects
supervisors and directors who work here who won't have to make
time-wasting trips to the local effects house checking on shots. The
idea is to turn out more shots for the same kind of money than just
a few blue screens. We can now do another fifty percent more shots
since we're doing them in-house and we're not worried about a
profit margin or overhead."
Unlike other low-budget CGI companies, Full Moon is trying
to accomplish everything at film resolution. Even though most of
their releases are direct-to-video, they are trying to anticipate new
technologies, such as 1 IDTV. Thai wav, no matter what format
conies out in the future, their effects will look decent. Also, a new
film, "Shrunken Heads," is one of the first releases the company has
produced theatrically in a long time, by compositing with a high
resolution of 1-1 /2K x 2K, Full Moon's special effects will, hope-
fully, not look inferior when judged next to a normal live-action 3K
\ 4K 35mm film resolution image. The only other alternative would
be to composite in video resolution and up-res the image from 525
to 2000 lines with services such as Digital Magic's Vision Magic or
CIS E-FILM system process, but the result is not comparable in look
to 1.5 X 2K originating scans.
The equipment Full Moon uses in its two computer work
stations and one rendering station is bare bones at best, but has
been more than adequate to perform some eve-popping effects.
With an investment of $50,000, the hardware consists of five Amiga
4000s utilizing the advanced AGA chip set with Motorola 68040
processors and Video Toaster 3.0 software (NewTek has since
released a new 3.1 version); three Quadra 450 Macintosh computers
equipped with 80 megabytes of RAM (the renderer contains 256MB
RAM); two Exabyte EXB-8500 tape drives; five 3.4GB hard drives;
small standard SyQuest H8MB removable drives as an easy way to
quickly transfer large files; one 1.3GB magnetic-optical erasable
disk machine which has the advantage over a SyQuest drive in that
one can transfer much more data on a disk — 525MB per side; two
WaCom UD1212 Graphics tablets for digitizing flat artwork; an
Epson and Nikon scanner to transfer up to 2700 DPI 35mm S-perf
slides and negatives for quick transfers that sometimes negate the
need for shooting and transferring expensive static background
plates; and three Panasonic Panasyne C1795e monitors.
For CGI software lull Moon relies primarily on LightWave 3D
with its enhanced features for the Video Toaster 4000. It has the
ability to render and display animations directly from the Toaster
Switcher in full-screen 30 frames per second real-time playback
with 256,000 simultaneous colors, allowing six full seconds with
only 16MB of fast 32-bit RAM. In addition, the rendering speed
increases by factors of ten lo twenty times over the older Toaster
with improved image quality due to new anti-aliasing routines that
automatically locate and smooth jagged edges. Partial screen
animations can easily be keyed over live video using alpha channel
drop shadows. There are also cards like the RAPTOR that can
enable the Toaster to render at blistering speeds, but at a cost of
around $15,000.
Most Full Moon effects shots requiring one element of CGI or
digital compositing take approximately one week per shot at a cost
of $2,500 to S3.500 each. Some of their first composites took a little
longer due to an initial learning curve. The more elements in a
shot — such as the three Shrunken I leads thing around simulta-
56
A mazisg Comfi visa
Models (as seen on the left) and computer generated images (as above) were integrated
seamlessly into the final production with live actors.
neousl) — demand three times the scanning cost for each blue
screen element, plus three times the labor and time.
Full Moon began their digital odyssey in September '43 and in
less than six months has established a full-fledged digital work
station unit producing CGI and digital compositing just like the big
boys. The major difference, however, is that they did i! economi-
cally for their own in-house sci-fi entertainment.
Visual Effects Supervisor and slop-motion expert Randall
William Cook did the design work and character animation for the
six computer-generated flying dragon shots (comprising approxi-
mately 40 seconds) in Pull Moon Entertainment's upcoming
"Dragonworld." His background on such films as "The Gate 1 &2"
and "Ghoslbusters" helped facilitate the crossover between the
physical world of models and animating within the virtual context
of the computer. In fact, CGI is more akin to eel animation in that
the animator uses extreme frames, while the computer adds the in-
betweens and performs all the necessary move calculations,
LightWave 3D for the Amiga was chosen for the job since the
Video Toaster was the only low cost platform that could do what
they needed for the money. The Amiga had already proven itself
for video applications on the TV series "Babylon 5" and "scaQuest
DSV," but unfortunately behaves like a sloth when it comes to
achieving higher resolutions. Would il meet Full Moon's film
quality requirement, since their video product is repeatedly shown
to buyers on Smm release prints?
"They used a lot of stop motion in the finished film, but for the
flying sequences we wanted to try computer effects to see how the
Amiga, specifically, would handle a complex living creature," Cook
began. "Because we had to animate the characters organically and
perform functions of character animation economically (given the
fact that the pictures done here are low budget), I wanted to get a
system that would allow for versatility in character animation. The
demonstrations 1 saw of the 1 Amiga's] Bones feature encouraged
me that at least for certain kinds of limited flight shots, we would
be able to get what we needed." As it turned out, Cook was able to
get a lot more than distant flight shots. I le was able to get quite
close.
The Bones feature in LightWave 3D allows users to create
complex animation with little effort. Bones are akin to a puppeteer's
marionette strings. Wherever the strings move, the puppet is sure
to follow. In LightWave, wherever the bone moves, the object
contorts itself to follow suit. The bone in this case is a small object
pointer that exerts influence over an object's shape. For example,
when vou make the bone rotate, the object also twists around and
rotates.
Like gravity, Bones can have unlimited influence on the object.
Two factors dictate how much influence a bone can have: its size
and range. The larger the bone, the more influence it has on an
object next to it. According to Cook, the Bones feature does not
match the convenience or versatility of a superior process known as
"inverse kinematics,"
"What vou have is this verv complex 3-D model with c\n under
structure like a skeleton, or a stop-motion armature with ball and
socket joints," he explained. "If you grab a wrist and move it up
into position, the whole arm goes with il. But the elbow won't go
past a certain point because you've set up parameters or move
limits [with the Limited Range setting on the Bones menu]. Before,
we had to move each element or bone a little bit at a time indepen-
dently of each other. With inverse kinematics, vou only have to
move the last object in a given anatomical hierarchy."
However, Bones is not quite inverse kinematics. It proved to
be not as well-developed as programs for the SGI, such as Alias or
Softimage. Due to some of the idiosyncrasies of the Bones technol-
ogy, the ability to produce a completely convincing living,
breathing 3-dimensional creature involved certain compromises.
"I think we were able to do with the Amiga certain bits of
character animation of a complex and realistic creature, certain
effects which were persuasive as far as they went, but the technol-
ogy just doesn't go far enough to produce unlimited photo-realistic
acting and totally naturalistic animals. Bones is verv good, but verv
good isn't good enough for all character animation applications,"
Cook confessed.
Bones behave not really as bones, but more like magnets —
gravitational attractors which distort a wire mesh rather than move
September 1 994
57
a solid sculpture. So, the control factor is limited. Imagine a bunch
of little magnets that are actually pulling on the wire frames. The
trouble with that is, if a pair gets too close together, thev stretch out
and try to touch one another like gravity, and this distorts the
image.
Cook explained the magnetic attraction analogy even further:
"To put one skull hone in the head of a creature that's as compli-
cated as a dragon would not be the same as putting one armature
block into an animated puppet, or putting a real skull into a real
dragon's head. We found we needed a number of gravitational
attractors around that main bone to keep the head from malforming
as it moved. Also, all the different bones exerted gravitational
attractions on one another in a way which limited the animation.
When one body part would get too close to another body part, one
would begin to distort toward the other through gravitational
attraction. As a result, we found we had to limit the acting of the
creature to the sort of motions which \ww compatible with these
gravitational eccentricities. Hence, we compromised the pantomime
and limited what we were able to achieve to conform to the
restrictions of the Amiga I.ightWave technology."
First, a three-foot model of the full-grown dragon was made
out of hard urethane in Mark Rappaporfs Creature Shop. This was
sent to Viewpoint Data Labs in Utah and digitized for the Amiga,
then further customized by digital artist Michael 1 : . Hoo\ er. a Video
Toaster expert. Even though "Dragonworld" was intended for a
direct-to-video release. Cook used Amiga'- film resolution of 960 x
1530 and re-sized or re-interpolated the pixels in Photoshop to 1536
x 2048.
The Video Toaster manual claims it offers adjustable resolu-
tions up to 3072 x 1920. If one anti-aliased that, it could provide a
svnthetic resolution of 16K by 12K. But it is not a true 2-1-bit display
device. It internally supports a 16-million-color palette, but outputs
color and resolution to the limited NTSC composite video signal.
Unfortunatelv, nobody in Hollywood uses composite video as a
broadcast source. To display true 24-bit images for recording onto
tape formats like D2, it is possible to extract the digital quality
image from the Toaster by out putting the I.ightWave animations
through hi-res 24-bit cards, such as those available from Digital
Micronics (Vivid 24 for S3,0Q0), CVP (ECS- 1 10/24 from $2,500), and
the less expensive products from INOVAtronics (AV24) and
Centaur (OpalVision) for under 51,000.
"We put more than one hundred bones in this dragon," Cook
said. "I'd done quite a bit of animation on the Macintosh with
Macromind 3D, and used various graphics programs like Painter. 1
nevertheless found that what we were doing with the Amiga was
In the end it was almost impossible to distinguish which
images were real and which were generated. The picture at
the left was provided by the Paramount's public relations
office where no one could say how it had been produced.
all new. We bought machines at the end ot September '93 and did
our last shot at the middle of March, so it was pretty labor and
learning intensive.
"Instead of animating shots per se, we animated actions that
would cover a sequence. The first shot we animated took a couple
ol weeks because I was unfamiliar with the program. It took two
weeks for a 38H-frame shot of the dragon flying. Micheal Hoover's
modification of the character was an on-going process and many of
our duties overlapped. Eor example, the creature's maps were still
being created while I was animating it."
After the dragon was animated by Cook, it was composited in
the Video Toaster and then transferred to Macintosh image files bv
Hoover using ToasterLink. He and Hoover were basically a fwo-
niiiii department. "Mike built people from standard issue animation
digital dummies and gave them wigs and clothing to which I
applied Hones, I changed their faces a little bit so they looked like
the people. Then we actually mapped photographs of the actors'
clothing and faces onto the people the wav we did with the
dragon."
It took oil the average of one-and-a-half weeks to animate a
300-frame sequence. Eor the scene when the dragon rears up to fly-
away, the background consisted of a daytime photograph of a
Romanian village, adjusted by Hoover to look like night in
Photoshop. This background was imported into LightWave with a
slight tilt upward to add some parallax shift as the dragon lifted off
the ground.
This one shot is probably the most representative of the
computer's main advantage over traditional stop-motion anima-
tion. A superb sense of immensity or massiveness is captured that
is very difficult to achieve with small stop-motion models. Ray
I larryhausen managed to capture this awesomeness with the
Kraken in "Clash of the Titans," but only because the model was a
good five-feet tall.
"Since this is something the computer handles well and stop-
motion has a little trouble with, it seemed a good idea to accentuate
the benefits of the computer and do something that was more
majestic and ponderous than vou'd want to do in stop-motion,"
said Cook. "In The Gate' I had a great big Demon Lord character
which was all stop-motion and again we attempted to move it with
an elegance and regality befitting a grand creature like that. In so
doing, I spent a lot of time with the teeny-incremental movements.
The computer, of course, allows you to do it with greater ease.
"The Amiga is wonderful for certain things, but it's still not
SGI as far a- its ability to make a totally convincing creature. That
being said we were very happv with the level of photo-realism we
were able to obtain and the ease of compositing which the Amiga
gave us. Those features were very valuable and it's a very versatile
fool which I wouldn't hesitate to use for simpler applications.
However, for a more complicated character, I leel that it was
somewhat inadequate."
Manv of Senior Visual Effects Supervisor David Allen's shots
for Full Moon involve the digital compositing of rod puppet
creatures into already photographed background plates. For
"Prehvsteria 2" there is a -hot of a baby chasmosaurus running
across a highly reflective museum floor. The puppet was actually
animated to run in place hv four puppeteers using slots cut into a
S8
Amazing Computing
piece of reflective mylar in front of a blue screen. The mylar acted
as a mirror to reflect the blue under the puppet. The rods were
painted the same blue color as the background screen, and thus
became as neutral as the background blue. A motion-controlled
diagonal camera move 1 added gave the effect of the puppet
running across the frame. The model was composited into the shot
using Photoshop and COSA AfterEffects. [Is reflection on the
marble floor was achieved by flopping the image, adding distor-
tion, then repositioning it at an oblique angle beneath the running
puppet.
Effects supervisor Chris Endicott oversaw a similar effect of a
tiny pterodactyl flying through the doorway of a greenhouse. A
simple split screen matte of the door was created in Photoshop as
the creature disappeared behind the wood. Often when a camera
move is not possible to give an apparent motion to a creature, the
puppet is shot full-frame running in place to obtain the best
possible resolution. The model is then taken into COSA Aftereffects
and a digital ADO moves it across the screen, adding motion blur,
as was the case with the baby dragon scurrving through the forest
in "Dragonworld." For "Oblivion 1 & 2," various shots of a
spaceship landing in the desert were filmed via motion control by
effects supervisor Joe Grossberg and programmer Les Paul Robley.
These were digitally composited using the techniques previously
discussed.
Full Moon Entertainment's VFX Digital department is not
above using traditional opticals when the need presents itself. For
the film "Dark Angel," Gentry and 1 superimposed a 45-inch
diameter glowing Plexiglass sphere over shots of the angel floating
around her parents' room. This effect was patterned after the
Glynda, the Good Witch optical from the 1^39 version of "The
Wizard of Oz," but aligned in the camera using today's technology.
A videotape of the pre-existing footage striped with time code was
re-positioned to fill the Fries camera videotape ground-glass
markings using the Panasonic MX-50 frame grabber and digital-
shrink button. The tape was then synced to the motion-control rig
by means of the time-code-trigger start switch built into the Kuper
K IMC software. This enabled the cast and crew to witness the
finished composite after each take on video, engaging the MX-50's
luminance key capability. The stage had been previously draped
with black Duvateen to negate the need for any garbage matting by
the optical company doing the composite. Gentry wanted to make
it as easy as possible for the technician performing the optical.
Gentry felt that this simple superimposition technique was the best,
least expensive and easiest method for achieving this particular
effect in the film.
"Simple split screens and some double exposures are always
required and the turn around time is still cheaper and faster with
opticals," he admitted. "The big bugaboo with digital composites is
shot length.' As far as blue screen shots are concerned, I'd rather
do them digitally. But long takes and shot elements requiring
intricate fog/diffusion effects are still cheaper to do on an optical
printer. The image loss in a good optical is practically impercep-
tible, Digital still has to work hard to look as good, image-fidelity-
wise." He believes that motion-controlled models and opticals are
not obsolete. There can he a symbiosis with CGI in the future,
compositing traditional effects digitally inside the computer. "1
think a lot of people felt cheated that after we got these great
computer compositing machines, there would hopefully be a
period of time when we'd get to use these tools solely to composite
digitally. But CGI has come along about as rapidly almost eliminat-
ing the need for models or miniatures, and probably people next,
but it's not totally economical vet."
Digital designer Chris liiggs doesn't care which computer
platform he works on, as long as it gets the job done. "Basically we
use Macintosh because we started off with a lot of Mac hardware
and software and don't want to invest in another format, especially
since we are at a crossroads with computers right now. the IBM PC
also has some good, sophisticated low-end graphics software. But
the future's about to change in a big way and we don't want to
invest in the wrong thing.
"The next generation of computers won't have a keyboard.
You'll talk to them and they'll talk back to you. Instead of physi-
cally typing in something you'll just speak the words, and instead
of having a mouse, you'll just use your finger and point. Just like in
"Star Trek,' they have voice recognition now, but you must say the
word over and over again using the same inflection."
Biggs demonstrated a slide show of a new program called 14
BRYCE whereby the computer creates 3-D landscapes and
environments right in its own artificial universe. The neat thing
about Brvce is one doesn't have to be a skilled artist to use it. He
indicated that it was acquired and further developed by Kai
Krause, the maker of KPT software (Kai's Power Tools). Krause
interfaced the algorithmic generator to work on a Macintosh
computer which manufactures environments on a digital level, akin
to the Genesis Experiment CGI in "Star Trek II and 111."
"All you do is set parameters, telling the program how much
you want of this and that, what color scheme to work with, and it
does the rest. You can use real every day images to create fantastic
artwork (such as a photograph of a person), but because you're
using highlights and shadows it creates weird environments. There
are no pre-existing models or images, you just tell it what textures
you want, colors, elevations, sun angle, ambient light level, rock
formations, snow, water, cloud movement, etc. It'll probably sell for
only SH10 and be out by the time you read this. It'll put a lot of
matte painters in a major hurt. But any software graphics program
will still need artists to run them, not techno-brats."
A similar program for the Amiga put out by Virtual Reality
Laboratories is called Vistapro 3.0. It allows the user to accurately
recreate, explore and animate real places in vivid detail. Based on
real-world data obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey and
NASA spacecraft, Vistapro offers nineteen landscapes — from the
Alps to the surface of Mars. According to a company spokesperson,
special effects houses are already exploring uses of this program in
their films.
Just because Full Moon uses low-end gear, doesn't mean
l ientr\ wouldn't like to empkn the more expensi\ e digital toys.
"I'd be a fool if I didn't say I wouldn't love to have SGI Onyx's
galore and plenty of FLAME, SOFTIMAGE, FLINT, MATADOR,
whatever, to work with," he concluded, "But it works against my
low-budget approach for Full Moon, a company which needs to
watch the bottom line very closely. The price we pay is not being
exactly state ol the art, hut the tools available to do this stufl
inexpensively are here now. We're just driving digital Volkswagen
Bugs while others are driving Ferraris. We both still get to where
we want to go."
•AC*
Please Write to:
Les Paul Robley
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fall River, MA 02722-2140
September 1994
59
^EOTPeedback
[b a (c [k
Letters to the Editor
Amiga Technology in the Public Domain?
Amiga Spreadsheets — Please.
CD32 worldwide compatiblity problems.
Dear AC,
The often expressed hope for a corporate "white knight", such .is
Phillips, Sony or Samsung, to purchase Amiga technology and save
the computer is self delusion. A large corporation would have little
to gain, and much to lose, by competing with IBM and Apple.
A likely scenario would be for the successor corporation to
employ the technology more conservatively, such as in a video
game machine (CD32 by Samsung?) or in a card to be used by a
Macintosh or IBM. The Amiga as a separate computer system
would be extinct.
It is not widely appreciated that the reason why the IBM
computer is dominant in the world is because IBM failed to
adequately patent the basic technology for their machine. This
created the market for clones, and these machines became more
available, powerful, and cheaper as thousands of manufacturers
competed with one another.
Commodore would best serve the Amiga, and their customers,
by licensing Amiga DOS and the Amiga technology for a nominal
fee, or by placing it in the public domain. This would encourage
lean, hungry entrepreneurs to develop and market the Amiga,
perhaps duplicating the success of the IB VI clones.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey T Powell
West Covina, CA
You reasoning is very found. Some bidders have expressed an interest in
buying Hie Amiga teeiinologii ami then utilizing only Hie portions they
need for their business. However, other bidder* hare not only stated that
thei/ toil! do even/thing they can to win the Amiga technolgy in a bid, but,
if they should lose to one of these other bidden, lliey are prepared to make
an offer to the winning company for the technology to continue the Amiga
line. Either way. the Amiga could continue.
Tiic problem is lime. If the Bahimian actions take too long, many o)
the people who want to continue the Amiga feel it will be increasingly less
attainable. The result is that the longer we wait for the Amiga production
to resume, the less likely it will happen.
As far as the technology is concerned, it belongs to the creditors and
not Commodore. Since this is their main asset available to them to realize a
portion of their losses, they zoil! want to sell it — not place it in the public
domain.
Dear AC,
I'd like to comment on Jeffrey T Powell's letter which appeared
under Feedback in April. Although 1 agree with him, 1 want to add
that the Amiga doesn't lack all in the business sector. I have never
felt as if I were missing a word processor. For DTP, PageStream is
far above Aldus PageMaker and there are a few good databases.
Indonesia is an IBM clone domain and few people know the Amiga.
Friends are impressed with what they see and regret they can't
have the same programs run on their machines.
What is missing is a decent spreadsheet. It is the only thing I
am ashamed to show on my Amigas. To do decent spreadsheet
work, I keep an otherwise superfluous IBM clone. Of course, the
alternative is to install an IBM card. But why should I waste &800-
900 and block one of my slots? I rather spend $-100 on a real
spreadsheet!
For the first A1000 {in 1986) I had Professional, a Lotus clone.
It never updated. I bought Platinum Works! with my A2000 in
1989. MSS never improved it. The only software which came near
to a spreadsheet was Superplan which was way above the others in
the graphics side and was unique in having a time sheet. Since
Oxxi took over the Precision Software, they kept their excellent
database but seem to do nothing about the spreadsheet. I wrote to
them early this year suggesting an upgrade with at least some
WYSIWYG! but never got .) response Is it a case of No news is good
news?
Last year, 1 purchased an A1200. The Singapore dealer
60
A mazing Computing
suggested ProCalc. I tried and almost cried, imagine that you have
to decide about fonts before starting. Changing fonts made some
words disappear but they did print. The fonts used do not seem to
be saved with the data. The printing range is not saved either. The
printing options are practically nonexistent. Importing Lotus files
did not always work and some files were not recognized. The
commands are not standard. All good spreadsheets like Puattro
Pro and Excel have a Lotus tree. .Mot ProCalc Not Multiplan.
1 stopped subscribing to another Amiga magazine because the
then Editor-in-Chief wrote that the Amiga could do without a
spreadsheet: the graphics obsession. Similarly, 1 shall buy nothing
produced by Oxxi unless they start thinking about the necessity of
producing a spreadsheet.
Yours Sincerely,
Alex Wolvesperges
Surrtut, Indonesia
Spreadsheets is definitely a place where llie Amiga needs ((i improve. Wliilc
there have been some attempts in this urea, the business industry now
demands better then what we are currently able to provide. I will pass
your letter to the companies you have mentioned and to others who have
shown an interest in a spreadsheet for the Amiga.
What is missing is a
decent spreadsheet. It is the
only thing I am ashamed to
show on my Amigas.
vsi hope is In wait to see who wins the Amiga technology and then
support /nudge the company into creating the Amiga line and the Amiga
less that we should have seen from the vent first.
Our best ho
awarena
Dear AC,
First, I'd like to let you know tint in the last several months it
seems that your magazine has increased in quality many times.
Specifically, more color!! Please keep it up, it definitely makes for a
more pleasurable reading.
The next thing is that I agree 100% with Mr. 1 licks when he wrote
about Commodore being bought out and the Amiga surviving
(EditoriaI/Volume9, No.6, June 1994). The first thing that came to
mind was when Chrysler bought Jeep, they (Chrysler) didn't take
the steering wheels and throw the rest of the company away!
Mainly though, I'm writing in reagrds to the CD32 and its
compatibility worldwide. I live in Sicily, Italy and am soon moving
close to Rome for about 3 years. I am a little confused with the way
CD32 handles PAL and NTSC. If I were to buy a CD32 in Europe,
would cd's produced for the US market work on my machine? or
am I stuck with international mail order forever. I have never
actually seen a CD32, does it have an external power source like a
Nintendo? or is it internal? and if so, how hard would it be to
switch over to 110-120V upon returning to the US? Lastly, what
about the MPEG module, anything I should be concerned with
there?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me on this
subject, and once again, keep up the good work.
Michael D Knoell
Catania, Sicilv
Dear AC,
What can we readers do to help promote the survival of the Amiga?
I have been an Amiga enthusiast since 1987, then in 89 I bought my
first A-500 and a few years later a CDTV. I have also bought and
sold several A-600s to very satisfied customers. 1 did this because
VValden Software was selling them fur $80 and 1 figured if they
couldn't find a home for them then 1 would. I currently own a
(40mhz) A-1200, CDTV, and a 1942 monitor. I also plan on buying
a CD32 soon. So as you can see I've done mv share of buying
Commodore products, but it didn't seem to help much. 1 have even
given Amigas as gifts and I can't tell you how many people I have
persuaded to buy Amigas instead of other computers. Yes, I am a
devout Amiga evangelist.
What I'm getting at here is that one person can't make much of
a difference and with the status of the Amiga up in the air, that
complicates matters more. If Samsung buys the rights to the Amiga
though, then Amiga publications should gel together and start
some kind of advertsiement fund. Hey if the Clintons can do it for
their legal fees then why shouldn't the Amiga do it for its advertis-
ing costs. I'd donate.
This may not be the solution, but it seems like We I he People
of the Amiga Community should be able to do something
collectively to aid the Amiga. 1 just don't want to see it fade into
oblivion like the C-64 or something.
Sincerely,
jerirrty Lee Campbell
Rising Sun, MD
P.S. I was reading the other day about an A 1 2007 A4QU0 specific
CD Rom drive that will be CD32 compatible, do you think
Commodore or a third party developer will come out with a way to
reverse that process, I.E. hook a CD32 to mv A4000?
According to our information, COM NTSC and PAL are not switchable.
if you own an NTSC machine you need NTSC software. We are unsure if
the MPEG module is universal, please check with i/our dealer before you
purchase it.
The Power supply is external and you will need a North American
version.
As far as CD32 on A4000 or attaching a CD32 to an A4000, we will
need to wait until there is once again an Amiga engineering division to
create tliese products,
•AC*
If you have a letter for
Feedback, send it to:
Feedback
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fait River, MA 02722
September 1994
61
w
19
by Henning Vahlenkamp
Last May's column (AC V9.5) focused on AGA games, so this
month we'll take a look at several liCS games (no AUA enhance-
ments). As always PD Update seeks to find the best in Amiga
freely distributable software.
The programs mentioned here are usually downloaded from
Aminel (ftp.wustl.edu:pub/aminet) or FUNLT (ftp,funet.fi:pub/
amiga) on the Internet. They also should be available via various
other sources such as online services (Portal, Delphi, etc.) or BBSs,
Some of fheui eventually appear in the Fred Fish Collection too.
Unless otherwise noted. Ilicv work with all Amicus and 1 ..i+.
DeliTracker 2.01
(shareware, S20; 2.04+)
by Delirium Softdesign
Aminet: /mus/plav/DeiiTracker2_01 .lha
With a unique, modular design, DeliTracker is probably the
most powerful Amiga music player ever. It recognizes a whopping
riK music formats, notably Pro/Noise/Sound'l racker MOD, IFF
,Ss\ X and SMLS, MFD and OctaMED, and WAV. Surprisingly, it
handles 8, 16, and 32-voice PC soundcard formats too, although
these will take their toll on slow CPUs. DeliTracker uses an external
player file for each format, except for common MODs which have
internal players. The program's modularity extends to its 15 genies
- small utilities that do neat things like displaying music file
information and real-time waveforms.
Deli Tracker's main interface window is also modular. Any
combination of its Info, Comment, Control, and Tapedeck sections
i.w\\ be displayed. The interface is altogether logical and profes-
sional, complete with lots of options and settings. Audiopiviles will
be pleased to note that they can create custom musical selections
\ i.i module lists. Rounding out the package are an ARcxx interface,
Appicon/Appwindow capabilities, and AmigaDOS 3.0 support.
The extensive modularity both saves memory and makes it
easy to add additional players and genies. But be aware that
loading all the modules together easily consumes 1MB of RAM.
Despite its vast format support, DeliTracker couldn't play
"mod.startrek", one of my favorites. Don't let that deter you from
cheeking out this wonderful program.
Imperial 2.0
(shareware, SI 0; 2.04+)
by Jean-Marc Boursot
Aminet: /game/think/ Imperial. lha
Of all the non-commercial Mah-Jongg clones ! have played,
none is closer in quality to Activision's classic Shanghai than
Imperial. In this type of game, you remove matching pairs of tiles
(which must be free on the left or right and have no other tiles on
top oi them) from a layout of tiles. The goal of removing all the tiles
may sound simple, but it really takes plenty ol strategy to accom-
plish. The game is highly addictive too.
0-011 -OOOli Pr>: Tracker noil *n- -a:i j: "o : irji'l
CE ji-4Sff.f~B
j I Defrayer ^01
JEDiS
Ihod'j le : |ar t -san-c crossroads
jFornat : [Prorracl:er
line I
.«' J .JLl^-!^]jLL>J^lJ-gJ_=]M.
.1
| Stereo3:opt VI 1
ED Q
i~
^
•£
a | QjirfraSccpevi Q
Ww,
n I r/CKlJelnlo 1 ''
General InFa
Flodu 1 e
|ar*i-<.an<
crossroad^
Fomat
P
roTrack
er
■
! >■ ■ i /*
Patterns
pi
a'/fc ine
:
271352
nSa
InstrMnents
at
Hari-5an'< rfi55road>tv
;t)8ii
■
it?
#s ideu Lnder/neoauatt J
■■:';■■
*■*
ft writer inc a new era
3648
1
M
druns4
S474
OS
#greet t tigs ftv to
7214
Hi-.
It alt negawatt* guvs
79B4
n,>
ttand other frieods
7B28
DR
5HBH(.
H=l
13876
1B
freedon fron gravitv
B
r.
1 1
weight of the world
1SBB8
v
Hide
EE S
|m <&
._ < i > i.^-
DeliTracker 2.01
by Delirium Softdesign
DeliTracker is probably I he most powerful
Amiga music player ever for shareware. It
recognizes 58 music formats, notably Pro/
Noise/SoundTracker MOD, IFF 8SVX and
SMUS, MED and OctaMED, and WAV.
Surprisingly, it handles 8, 16, and 32-voice
PC soundcard formats too!
62
A ma /, I ,v a Com inn ,vc
TILES I 144/1 44 GAME : 799375524 LAYOUT : DRRECH
9tf € £ "A ©
<5>e5
3 I
.,!> #><&' ■< r JV> 6©<»1
H' §8* * I if 11" 'A
■ ! K;Wl 4 itmiFlt«
4 <5><S 9 ^ E
J ®% flsrars^ «>® <&53>*-> III §§>|
p_ <j^ ^■&o3 s> O iMi *a±? i-fe Q* ?!
s>@ ' - v |) co ,3 it **^- 1I -^ r li t' ■$■ cji <:
Imperial 2.0
by Jean-Marc Bursot
Imperial 2.0 is a Mah-
Jongg clone that shakes
the tiles off the
competition.
Impcri.il offers the origin.il Mah-Jongg dragon layout plus fi\e
others, all featuring the traditional seven suits of Chinese Hies. The
tiles in each layout can be arranged a billion ways, so vou can play
a random arrangement or choose one by number. If you get tired of
the predefined layouts, you can create your own with the built-in
editor. Using it is very intuitive, and it even recognizes unplayable
layouts, ensuring that every game has a solution. Imperial's other
niceties include one and two player games, an unlimited undo of
moves, an advice feature, and the ability to view the complete
solution to any game from the start - unfortunately not from your
current position.
There's hardly anything 10 quibble about in this marvelous
puzzler, except perhaps such trifles as the lack of a reward for
solving a game and that Shanghai is a bit more attractive.
Reset 3.1 (2.04+)
bv Martin Schlodder
Aminet: /util/batch/reset31a.lha
This diminutive program doesn't do much at all, but it's still
useful. Reset resets your computer three different ways: SIMPLE,
COLD, and KICK. SIMPLE does a warm reset like pressing Control
and the two Amiga keys. COLD removes the ExecBase structure
from memory, eliminating any normally reset-resistant things,
particularly RAD:, RAM-based Kickstarts, and viruses. This is
equivalent to flipping the power switch off then on. The KICK
option removes Kickstart from the A 11100's Writeable Control Store,
although I don't think too many Amiga users will need it, Each
method can have a five-second inlerruptible countdown.
The primary advantage of this utility is that it doesn't force
your hard disk to slow down then speed up again like the "three
Workbench Game
Collection 1 2.1 by Kevin Crate
The Workbench Game
Collection 1 2.1 is a fun little
collection of puzzle games lo
play on the Workbench. You
get Tetrapuz, Toe Popper,
Slider, Piper, and Cracked.
Arnga V/otfteich 1,3?- ,944 g-aphics TEff 3,115,688 ofrer rueir
o 1 V'ortoench
11:46:54 AN El
|E] <&
a j Piper
I 33
Sysl
I £
] POINTS
l*l*1fl*l
I
a | Ts:rapj;
nnmt
~oe Popper
r. C'ached
B
TIME
1*111*:
Be? in
flfeor* ;
NIME^
- I i I-
p | Tee Pcppe-
IS
e
<o
TiMlfc Bum,
[«I*Tsl
1*1*1*1
lo^l^U.
T
r~r
r~ r
□| Sfcfer
<a
start l|mT«I»I«'
1
QZ|03
aaj
es
06|0 7
rae
09
1 (J 1" 1
1 . j
1 3
1 <i| : s
September 1994
63
Scorched Tanks 1.77
by Michael Welch
Scorched Tanks gives up
to (our players (computer
or human), a choice of
60 weapons and 13
shields to battle each
other.
finger salute" does, eliminating that extra stress. Furthermore, it
makes sure no disk activity is in progress during n reset, preventing
read /write errors.
Reset normally runs from the shell, but it's much more
convenient from an icon (via IconX) or the Tools menu (via
AddTools, ToolM.m.iger, etc.). Mere's a handy script 1 use on mv
A 1200 to invoke Reset:
; reset script, requires 3.11+
RequestChoice >ENV:boot
"System Request" "Reboot the svstem?" "Warm I Cold I No"
if Sboot eq 1
GResct SIMPLE
else
if Sboot eq 2
CReset COLD
endil
end if
Scorched Tanks 1.77
(shareware, $10)
by Michael Welch
Aminet: /game/ shoot/scorch 177.1ha
Veterans from the early days of computing may remember
Artillery, a game in which two players controlling opposing
cannons perched on mountains take turns shooting at each other.
Scorched Tanks took that vintage concept and updated it for the
Amiga. This game allows up to four players (computer or human),
and you have a choice ol 60 weapons and 13 shields, producing
many creative effects ranging from huge nuclear blasts to bouncing
warheads back to their source. You also have a choice of winds,
gravity, and terrains for extra challenges. The whole thing is
wrapped up in a slick interface complemented by good graphics
and sounds.
A lot of the strategy here involves finding the best firing angle
and power for your projectile. The quicker you do this, the better
vour chances of destroying your opponent before you're destroyed.
Of course it helps to have effective weapons and shields. While
Scorched Tanks is elementary in concept, its depth of pln\ u ill keep
you coming back again and again.
Workbench Game Collection 1 2.1
(shareware, £5; 2.04+)
by Kevin Crate
Aminet: /game/think/ wb2gamesV2. l.lha
Now here's something I've been waiting for: a fun little
collection of puzzle games to play on the Workbench. You get
Tetrapuz, Toe I'opper, Slider, Piper, and Cracked, hut sadly no
version of Tetris, The only Workbench limitation is that Cracked
and Piper aren't properly font-sensitive, so their displays won't
look correct if vour system default text font isn't topaz 8. Written by
the same author, all the games have a similar style which includes
the use of some familiar digitized voices from TV and the movies.
The object of Tetrapuz is to arrange a group of square tiles so
that the numbers on their adjacent sides match. Toe Popper is a
Mine Sweeper clone in which you must find and mark all the mines
in a field, using the numbers in uncovered squares as guides to how
many mines are in the surrounding area. Slider is a typical sliding
biock game; you slide numbered blocks around the board to get
them in the correct order. The idea of Piper is to lay down connect-
ing sections of pipe in order to keep the water flowing through
them as long as possible. In Cracked, a Mastermind clone, you get
seven chances to figure out the random combination of four images
that the computer picks. This game is my least favorite, since the
computer seems to reorder its combination every time you guess,
making it terribly difficult.
This game collection is clearly well done. All the games, with
the possible exception of Cracked, are eminently playable, They'll
keep you entertained whether vim simply want a break from work
or you're waiting for some complex 3D image to render.
Things I'd Like to See
Uninstalling software cleanly has become a hoi topic in the PC
Windows community lately because of its difficulty. The problem is
so acute that several "uninstallers" are on the market. Things aren't
nearly so bad with the Amiga, but uninstalling still can be tedious
when program elements are copied to svstem directories lC:, S:,
Devs:, Libs:, etc.). Therefore, it would be nice to see all Amiga
programs that modify anything outside their directories come with
uninstalling utilities. Ideally, they should have both install and
uninstall scripts. .Ap.
Please Write to:
Henning Vahlenkamp
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fall River, MA 02722-2140
Ol
Amazi.xg Comi'i i -i su
amiga telecommunications
When you think of recreation and your Amiga, you may not automatically think also of
your modem. After all, with the exception of a few commercial games such as the Fighter
Duel series from Jaeger Software, modems and games just don't mix much. Virtually all of
the commercial information services offer games that can be played on line, although most
are of the text- based variety, or ASCII representations of tic-tac-toe. GEnie has a different
story for Amiga game players.
We have probably all seen the print
ads run by GEnie th.it show .111 integrated
circuit chip with the caption "this opponent
is programmed to be challenging." Below
this is a picture of some leering guv with the
caption "this one wants to tear vour lungs
out." No matter how good the program-
ming, there will come a lime when vou
know all of the possible mines a silicon
based opponent can make. The ultimate
challenge conies from those unpredictable
human beings.
'I he Clinic service oilers more than a
do/en different mulls- plaver games lor
playing on line. Some of these also fall into
the above categories, but many of them
require special front end software, usually
taking the form of a specialized terminal
program for each specific game. While there
are some that are not available for the
Amiga users, several of the best have
Amiga versions. Available games run the
gamut from medieval quests, to space-
based conquest, to real-time trivia chal-
lenges.
Manv are team games, where vou join
one side against another. Some, tike Air
Warrior (I'igure 1), have more complex and
dynamic situations. In this game, presented
by Kesmai, there are three warring
countries, each fighting against the Other
two. They arc all equipped with vintage
aircraft and other vehicles, mainly from
WWII and the Korean War. Vou join a
squadron fighting for one of the countries,
and fly off to do battle. You can arrange to
fly alone or in a group. Pilots can communi-
cate with others on the same side via
messages typed into a window at the
bottom ol the main screen. Some planes.
■1
J " ISO-
IS . 525 *
'tJ f^t ^y
JUjOU
rihT
spiff: 1726 (1527) :a IBS??? heherte
such as the bombers, can hold several crew
members, who can chat on the intercom in
the same manner.
The front end software, besides being
a terminal program, also functions as an off
line flight simulator. This allows you to
practice the rudiments of flying and
landing the various types of planes, without
being connected to GEnie. The current
version of the Amiga software is called
amiaw29.run, and is a self-extracting file.
Simply type the file name to unpack
everything. This file contains the basic
program, documentation and hint files.
Also included are some sample sound and
graphics files, and a demo bv some expert
flyers. The file is 722,304 bytes large, and
will require nearly an hour to download at
2400 bps. The download is free of GEnie
connect time charges however. Air Warrior
will run on any Amiga, but due to the size
of the files, a hard drive is required.
Perhaps a game of cards would be
more to vour liking. RSCards, from Factory
Programming (Figure 2), allows you to play
any of seven different games real-time with
other players. The games are Blackjack,
Poker, Chess, Checkers, Bridge, Reversi,
and Backgammon. You can play with or
without the special front end software. The
Amiga version is called amiga.run, and
again is self-extracting. The file is small,
39,680 bytes, needing only about three
minutes at 240(1 bps.
Figure 1 Air Warrior
In Air Warrior there are three warring
countries equipped with vintage
fighters and bombers. Join a country
and fly alone or in groups.
September 1994
6t
Figure 2 (Above Left): RSCards allows you
to play any of seven different games
real-time with other players.
Figure 3 (Left): NTN Trivia is a multi-player
trivia contest pitting your skill against
people in hotels, restaurants and bars,
not just other GEnie users.
Figure 4 (Above): Orb Wars is a role
playing game for the adventurous.
It' Trivial Pursuit is vour all-time
favorite board game, check out NTN Trivia
(Figure 3). This multi-player trivia contest
costs S3 per hour above GEnie connect
charges, with four games typically being
played in an hour. This game is run bv the
NTN Interactive Television Network, so
you may find yourself plaving against
people in hotels, restaurants and bars, not
just other GEnie users. A chat feature is
included as part of the software, and
specific topics are featured on certain
nights. Winners accumulate points that can
be exchanged for things ranging from hats
and GEnie credits, to camcorders and
televisions. The current version of the
Amiga software is vl.21, and is called
trivfe.run. At 2400 bps, the 77,824 byte Hie
transfers in about six minutes.
If you are looking for more of an
intellectual challenge, Irv 1'cdcration II.
Here the accent is on cooperation rather
than confrontation. Make alliances with
those above and below you in rank, while
competing with everyone else. You begin as
a simple trader, and eventually move up to
control vast sections of the universe.
Although Federation I! is text based and
requires no extra software, there is a multi-
media terminal front end available for
Amiga users. This provides a mouse,
windows, and menus interlace, as well as
sound and graphic affects. For instance, you
can set it up so that if a particular player
signs on and says "Hi", a scanned photo or
other art file will be displayed, and sound
samples can be played. This tile, called
newmmterml42.1ha, is another long
download that is free of GEnie connect
charges. Its 227,712 bytes will take about 19
minutes at 2400 bps.
If magic and mystery are vour forte.
Orb Wars by Simutronics (Figure 4) should
appeal to you. Many actions, such as
character generation for new players, will
be familiar to anyone who has played any
of the Dungeons and Dragons types of
games. Set on an island created by Merlin,
the Orb Wars are fought between two
opposing teams of wizards. Each team
consists of 1 to 5 players, and typical games
run about 30 minutes. Orb Wars will
operate with just about any terminal
program, with better displays generated
with VT100 emulation. There also is an
Amiga front end that will add graphics,
animations, and sound effects to the wars.
You can find this listed as orbwarsfeU.arc.
It is 241,280 bytes long, should take about
20 minutes at 2400 bps, and will require Arc
or LHArc type programs to de-compress.
The above games are not the only
multi-player games available on GEnie, but
they ai'e the only ones that use Amiga-
specific front end programs. Each of the
front end programs can be found within the
area for that particular game. Ail of the
multi-player games can be found by typing
"move 800" at any GEnie prompt. If you
don't have a GEnie account, set your
terminal software to 8 data bits, no parity,
and 1 stop bit. Use half duplex or local
echo, and either 300, 1200, or 2400 bps. Dial
1-800-638-S369 (in Canada 1-800-387-8330),
When you see the word CONNECT on
your screen, type "HHH" (without the
quotes), and press return. GEnie will
respond with the prompt "U#=", to which
you respond by typing "AMIGA" and press
return.
Notice to Sysops
If you run an Amiga specific BBS, send
me the information callers will need to
access your system. Phone numbcr(s),
modem speeds, software settings, etc. As a
service to the Amiga community I will
include the information I receive in this
column from time to time. Send the info to
any of the addresses below.
How to reach me
R.HaysS
RHAYS
72764,2066
on GEnie
on Delphi
onCompuServe
InterNel users, the quickest response
will probably occur if you use:
R.HAYS5@GENIE.GEIS.COM
For U.S.Mail:
Rob I [,i\ -
P.O.Box 194
Bloomington, IN 47402
Please include a SASE if you need a
personal reply.
That is all for this month. Next time
we will check out a national system with
important features for Amiga users that you
may never have heard of. See vou on line!
•AC*
You May Also Write to:
Rob Hays
c/o Amazing Computing
P.O. Box 2140
Fat! River, MA 02722-2140
66
Amazi.sg Comi'VTIXG
oomers
by The Bandito
The Bandito discusses the CBM turmoil and the Amiga's
future - Where we get so upset, we join in.
[These statements and projections presented in
"Roomers" are rumors in the purest sense. The
bits of information are gathered by a third-parly
source from whispers inside She industry, At
press time, these rumors remain unconfirmed
and are printed for entertainment value only.
Accordingly, the staff and associates of
/Amazing Computing cannot be held
responsible for the reports made in this column. I
Grave Robbing
Well, Commodore's corpse was not even
cool before the squabble for the choicest
pieces broke out. Actually, from the best
sources the Bandito has, the rumor activity
has been even hotter than the interest in
Commodore. Practically every large
company and a number of small ones have
been identified as potential or actual
"Commodore buyers," Of course, these
rumors have been nurtured bv the near-
complete absence of hard information,
leaving a rampant growth of speculation,
wishful thinking, and downright fables to
create an almost impenetrable thicket
around the truth.
Rumors have been racing to and fro
on the infobahn; plausible ones "from a
knowledgeable source" or "someone who
ought to know," and more dubious ones
like "my friend says" and "I heard from a
dealer that." Of hard information there is
nary a peep. And this isn't surprising,
because Commodore as a press-releasing
entity doesn't exist any more. With legal
proceedings taking place in the Bahamas,
it's not as if it's easy to get news coverage of
what ma\ or may not be happening.
Many of the rumors had solid dates
attached to them. "We'll hear by..." and
then a date is given. When that deadline
passes, the rumor starts again with a new
deadline. Ibis continues until credibility is
exhausted, whereupon a new rumor is
started.
that's accurate. Some rumors are coming
from the various European sales divisions,
but those poor people don't really know
much more than anybody else, their
posturings to the contrary.
Samsung
Let's trv to deal with the biggest
rumor of all first: Samsung. Various tales
Rumors have been racing to and fro on
the infobahn; plausible ones "from a
knowledgeable source" or "someone who
ought to know," and more dubious ones
like "my friend says" and "I heard from a
dealer that."
1 here are a few things we can be sure
of, Commodore U.S. and Commodore
International are hollow shells, with a bare
handful of employees left !o be able to hand
off the files to whoever buvs them. The
sales companies in various countries are
still in existence, but without product to sell
their existence is a rather hollow victory.
Still, they may be sold in the liquidation, so
they keep their doors open.
The Bandito is trying to sort through
the confusion to get at the real storv, but it's
not av easy task. After all, there's hardlv
anybody left at Commodore these days to
leak any information, even if Ihev had any
would have you believe that Samsung is
not only interested in buying Commodore,
but they actually bought it months ago. As
usual, the grain of truth at the center is far
smaller than the puffed-up speculation.
Prom the best of the Bandito's sources, the
interest level of Samsung is not necessarily
up to the highest of hopes. Some sources
say Samsung's main interest is acquiring
Commodore's European sales offices and
network, as a way of expanding their
presence on the continent.
Others sav that Samsung has wanted
to crack the US computer market for years,
and thev feel that the Amiga is their best bet
September 1994
67
Low Cost Kiosk
Call (414) 365-3555
(or info, on Dynapro'5
glass backed panel?.
TouchUnh works on
fill Dunapro panols.
from miniaiureio 17*1
Parts
t
Amiga
orCD3Z
s
'■>
TV /Monitor 5
3
VCR
s
■i
Housing
$
;>
Air Cable
S 20
6
Panel
S 97
/
TouchLInk 51 SO
About
S1DQ0
I
Water proof
proleclivo
Viriyl , liVI'IHi.;
TouchLInk- works with fTJeditjpoint. Sidaoicagc. CanDo, IC^LS
qmigo^iilan and olher authoring systems The only touch screen
that plugs directly into the GD32 via the gameport. The Touch-Link
driver is a lully Amiga tnendly commodity and compatible with ALL
Amigas. Amiga video modes, resolulions. and scan rales. Included
is a CD3S development disk, the driver can uso Ihe C032 Hash
memory to hold Its calibration data for CD ROM only kiosk. Von
can call our BBS and download Ihe entire TouchLinh product DISK
which contains our complete manual as an AmigaGuide document
Products from Geodesic Designs, Inc.
AirLink III (super bright IFt works up to 15 meleis 1 S 75.00
AirLink III (with old AirUnk trade-in) S 35.00
Air )R LED Cable [transmit only, includes software) S 20.00
TouchLInk (includes haro\vare unii. software, & cabtesi S 150.00
TouchLInk (with Dynapro 95612 15" Hal panell $ 270.00
TouchLInk (wit?! KcyTec MagicTuuch 14- snap on panel) S 270.00
Ptepaldcd and COD orders. Outside US/Canada, add $10 CO
GOOClGiiC .'• V P.O. Box 956081 Tel. (404)822 0556
n .,: n .. . . • . ,, Dululh, GA30136 Fas (404)339-9995
fjcjtgn\, inc. ■ USA ass (404) 339-9995
Circle 107 on Reader Service card-
to do this. Of course, you do have to
wonder about how Samsung might be
doing if North Korea starts Sobbing bombs
at SoLith Korea, but let's hope this doesn't
come to pass. Anyway, Samsung is a large,
diversified firm with a great deal of
resources and a worldwide presence arid
lots of experience in low-cost manufactur-
ing. Thev are certainly big enough to
provide the resources necessary to get
Amigas rolling out the door again, and
perhaps even to restart future Amiga
devclopmenl-if they're so inclined.
Interestingly, Samsung and Hewlett-
Packard have a number of cooperative
deals in place; could it be that they might
share Amiga technology? HI' gets the set-
top boxes, while Samsung takes the desktop
computers? An attractive scenario, even
though there are no facts to bolster the
speculation.
Whatever the case mav be, from the
best information received by the Bandito
Samsung's initial bid was too low, and thus
all of Commodore's assets went into
liquidation proceedings,
So now it's truly a bizarre bazaar,
where all sorts of corporations and even
individuals may bid on the pieces. The job
of the trustees is to sort through these offers
and find the best price they can for all the
pieces that made up Commodore. It's not
an easy job, and there's no reason to expect
that the process will be over soon. Conceiv-
ably it could drag on for many months.
Bids Anyone?
Let's look at some of the other
players that have been rumored to be
showing interest. CEI (Creative Equipment
International) was one of Commodore
U.S.A. 's last distributors, and thev certainly
seem to be interested in keeping the
product line going. But they are a relatively
small operation, and they may not be able
to swing the sort of bid the trustees are
looking for. Still, if no big companies step
forward to put up a lot of money, CEI may
walk off with the rights to the Amiga for a
veritable song.
Of course, there's still the Hewlett-
Packard rumor making (lie rounds, with
giant HI' being interested in the ACA chip
set for set-top boxes. But HP isn't really
interested in anything else, not even the
operating system. And thev don't really
want to pay too much for the chips, not
when they're perfectly capable of creating
their own chip set. If they can save some
money by buying a chip set that's already
functional and debugged, well, that's great.
Unfortunately, this won't mean much to
Amiga fans.
Amstrad is said to be interested in
CD32, as is Philips. Now Amstrad has a
reason to be interested in CD32; they'd like
to have a good game machine to sell. But
Philips? No way; they've invested far too
much into CD-i to want any part of CD32.
Amstrad, though, needs a hit product, and
CD32 has been just that in the UK. And
Amstrad would dearly love to have a
product that could sell in the lucrative US
market, and again CD32 has that potential.
Amstrad might even be interested in the
rest of the product line. But do they have
the finances for such an operation?
And then the rumors abound about
possible ■ otisortiums ol de\ elopers along
with various large companies. Every major
Amiga developer has been hinted at, along
with major electronics firms. The real truth
is that most Amiga developers are in poor
financial health, and have no money to put
towards a bid for the Amiga. So the odds of
a bid by Amiga developers are not good,
despite grandiose claims by some people.
The Bandito hears that most of the big
developers are just waiting to see what
happens and who makes off with the
technology, then they'll step in and try to
work with that company.
And what about the money from this
auction? Where does it go? The pieces get
auctioned off to the highest bidder, the
proceeds going to help pay off the over
5300 million dollars owed to various
creditors. It's unlikely that stockholders will
see a penny of this, by the way. They're last
in line when payments get handed out.
Secured creditors, like Irving Gould, are
first in line. Funny how that works, isn't it?
Old Irv won't be taking a bath because
Commodore sinks. Oh, sure, all that stock
he held has become worthless waste paper,
but that's not really money. He's made
plenty off of Commodore in the past, from
selling stock and making loans to the
company, not to mention the million-dollar
salary he pulled in. Shed no tears for Irving
Could, for he's still worth around S100
million dollars. He's probably kicking back
in the Bahamas, no doubt, idly wondering
what to invest in next. Does he even have
an Amiga in any of his houses? Has he ever
used one? Seems doubtful, doesn't it?
Is There A Future For The Amiga?
Let's start with the bad news first: From
what the Bandito can tell, no serious buyers
are interested in reviving the A4000 line at
all. (Oh, there are some dreamers out there
who think it's possible, but none of them
have the resources to make it so.) There
might be a few thousand sales to be made
there, but let's face facts: the A4000 just isn't
competitive prieewisc with the latest
machines. And in limited quantities (the
only quantities that could be sold in the
near term), it would be even more
expensive to produce than it was before.
Editor's note: There are groups interested
in keeping tiie Amiga line. In truth, unless you
wanted a network of sales companies that have
already been stripped of most of their staffs and
demoralized by a corporate head who was never
known for inspiring his people, then tvhat else
would all of these companies be bidding for?
They not only want the Amiga line — they need
it. (Please see the interview with David
Pleasance from CBM UK on page SO of this
issue.
By the end of this year, Pentiums will
be well under $21)01) for complete systems,
as are PowerPCs now. We're talking up to
10 times the performance of an A4000 for
half the price. The Amiga always had a
hard time selling in large numbers to
business, and about the best rationale it
used to have was the amount of power you
got for the low price. With that argument
gone, who would buy a business Amiga?
Editor's Note: Uh Bandito, fust a
thought here, you are quoting lop lis! prices for
the Amiga 4000 and bottom prices for the
68
Amazing Computing
Pentium. I believe most people would agree ilia!
the Amiga 4000 was already Hearing the $20(10
murk before the liquidation. In fact, one major
mm! order company had priced the 04 4000 at
$1995 and the 030 4000 at $7695 just before the
liquidation announcement.
As far as your assumption that the
Pentium or Power PC is ten times faster titan
the A4000, 1 don't believe, the figures are thai
high. Besides, the basic PC system now
demanded In/ software diTelopers is at least a
486SX. Most software will not run on anything
slower and there is a reason. Windows and even
DOS Itas placed so much extra baggage on these
"advanced" systems thai the products will nol
perform any better without the added horse-
power (believe me I know). So what does it
matter if the PC crowd has created a faster basic
processor, if the end result is slower than
tnolasses and runs like a ten year old dog at the
track, you are still not getting anywhere.
And the A1200 isn't really competi-
tive, either. An A1200 system runs you
about S800; for about that price you can get
a PC system that has 5 times the horse-
power, or a Quadra 605 with a 68040 in it.
Once again, the price performance just isn't
there any more. Commodore used to be
able to sell the Amiga because the fat
margins of the big computer companies left
it room to maneuver. Well, those fat
margins don't exist any more. And, not
surprisingly, neither does Commodore.
Editor's note: Excuse me, 1 realize 1 am
butting in here, but I assume when yon arc
discussing systems at the $800 mark, you are
talking about sales for the PC and top of the line
prices for Hie Amiga again. This is once again
incorrect. Those systems are severely limited in
both speed and memory. The Windows version
of Microsoft Office now requires 4MB of RAM
and a 4S6 processor. This is the base amount
available on machines in the SIO00 range, on
sale. If you want to add ACCESS to your
Microsoft Office, Microsoft requires 8MB of
RAM. Since ACCESS is a relational database
that is fully integrated into the Microsoft Office
environment, il will probably become a
standard. Bui with an 8MB overhead, PC
owners will be paying a hefty price for its use.
With all this added overhead, the Amiga 1200
mih PCMCIA adaptability, and more — still
makes it a great portable dance for business
presentations, home use, and entertainment.
OK, then, what about the next-
generation Amiga, with the AAA chip set, a
68060 CPU, a DSP, ReTargetable Graphics,
16 bit audio, and the other bells and
whistles that have been hinted at in the
past? Sadly, it's a pipe dream. The AAA
chip set is far from debugged and ready to
go; work was halted over a year ago. And
even then, the chip set was designed in 1989
originally, and just doesn't compete with
the latest SVGA chip sets. RTG is even
farther away from reality, as is DSP support
in the OS. In fact, the OS would need many
man-years of effort to support all these new
features. So such a project would take years
to put together, even if you had all the
experienced engineers handy, which of
course you don't. They've all left for other
companies. Even if you did get a new
machine together, you'd need sotlware
applications that would take advantage of
these features. Unfortunately, Amiga
software developers are already scarce, and
they'd probably be extinct by the time such
a machine appeared.
Sorry Bandito, your informal ion on the
AAA chip set is incorrect. While there was some
discussion to cease the development of the chip
set, strong opposition was registered and the
•work was continued until CBM was forced lo
close llieir doors. As Lew Eggebrechl stated last
December at the World of Commodore in
Toronto, that the chip set was in full develop-
ment (Amazing Computing February, 19941.
All indications show lhal the current chip set is
now waiting the final silicon which will then be
used in prototype machines prior to full
production.
As far as the developers and engineers of
the system, you have a point. Time is of the
essence. Most individuals who would be a great
addition lo the development staff are going
elsewhere and who could blame them. Yet, many
are waiting these few weeks in an abnormally
ho! summer to see where the Amiga is going.
They have spent a gootl portion of their lives
creating this environment — many are not as
willing to drop il as you assume.
But even if you thought you could
sell Amigas, who would sell them for you?
At this point, it's a whole nexv computer
product line. There is no dealer network
left, certainly no goodwill towards the
company. Commodore's mental mind share
among potential computer buyers is as near
zero as makes no difference. Restarting
Commodore would not only take at least
$25 million and 4 months of time to get
products shipping again; it would take
untold tens of millions to advertise, develop
retail channels, and hire people to make all
this happen. By the time Amigas were in
production again, no Amiga dealers would
be left. They'd either be bankrupt or selling
some other sort of computer or equipment.
Editor's note: Good point. Most of the
bidders who are interested in the Amiga
technology have placed llieir bids with a definite
deadline and provision Ilia! they must get Ihc
assets as soon as possible in order to reestablish
The ARexx COOKBOOK
by Merrill Callaway
Your complete ARexx tutorial . Guaranteed to
make learning ARexx easy. With ARexx you
can bring out the true power of your Amiga
whether you arc batch processing animations,
doing DTP, or just about anything else! Cus-
tomize your system and your application pro-
grams. Isn't il about Qmeyou had some ARexx
Support?
it The ARexx Cookbook Deluxe Set comes
with two full disks of useful examples that you
can study or simply plug in and go.
* The ARexx Reference Disk - a super-
detailed ARexx manual in Amigaguide format.
Deluxe Set S54.90; Reference $24.95 post paid
* Both for $63.95 * SAVE $15.90!
WHlTESTONE
51 1-A Girard SB, Albuquerque, NM 87106
(505) 268-0678 Visa/MasterCard accepted.
Circle 148 on Reader Service card.
Scientific
Amigan
From Aerospace Engineering to Zoology,
Scientific Amigan provides articles and
software to enhance research, analysis,
and design with the Amiga.
• Expert columns and reviews
• Internet tips and sources
• Technical publishing
• Disk and reprint library
• Two library disks w/ subscription
• Sample issue $2
Annual Subscription: $39 U.S.
Add $10 for Foreign Delivery
Dept. AZ
POB 60685
Savannah, GA
31420-0685
Circle 1 1 2 on Reader Service card.
GRAPHICS
81H47-2230
Renee's Graphics
1 8 1 2 1 7th Ave.
Tempo, ft 33605
Output Your Photos
or Computer Filesl
T-Shirt Transfer Imprinting
Mug Transfer Imprinting
Quantity Discounts
DeskTop Publishing
Graphic Design
Color Prints up to 11x17
Multiple formats supported
(Amiga, IBM]
Cat lodoy tar more information on our atier many services
Circle 106 on Reader Service card.
September 1994
69
AMIGA REPAIR
SERVICES
** 24 HOUR TURNAROUND "
A 1 year warranty • Factory Trained Technicians
and the lowest prices In the USA
A2000CALL/ A500CALL*
FACTORY AUTHORIZEDSERVICE CENTER
For A 1000 ,AJU00 And Muniturs call
■ Amiga 1200 «GVPA1 230*
Turbo MBX 1200*
Lowest Prices in the USA Call
Get on our mailing list You wjII receive out free news
letter with service tips and great deals on hardware
and acceso;ies Send us your name and address or
circle the reader Service nurribeJ
J & C Repair
RI) 2 BOX 9 Rnckfon Pa. 15856
Circle 165 on Reader Service card.
creative focus
boxSSO ctienangc bridge newyork 33745-0580 u s.a
announces NEW drivers
for Hewlett-Packard printers
SUper_DJC3 far all Deskjets
520, 560C, 1200C compatible
Exceptional color correction
Super_LJ4 for PCL5 LaserJets
600 DPI graphics
ECONOMODE support
featuring
Preferences access to over 70 fonts
Stochastic Diffusion dithering
Choose Lelter, Legal, A-l, Envelope
introductory special: S38 each
Circle 102 on Reader Service card.
AGA+M2
Enhanced !
Workbench 3 and Updated Compiler
Benchmark WB3rMvld« complete Wortbcnch 3.0 wiU 3.1
support, including 4GA Support AKKXN. GadTeolf,
BOOP.SI. ASl.. iFFI'iirvi 1 . .inJ Hxumpk- I'n^mms
Updated compiler Features include 6S02Q code generation and
direcl ^U[i|Hirt for [F.RR single and dnubtc precision miilli
licnchinark WB3 is available for our special introductorj price
of on!) 5125. WB2 users can upgrade toWB3 foronlj 525.
We're offering special discounts on upgrades H Benchmark fat
other Moduk-2 user*. Call or wnii 1 1W our free iviuloi:.
Money-buck stummtt'c iw all ArmtittitUr Computing products.
Armadillo Computing
5225 M,ir>nuiuin Drive, Austin. Texas 78723
Ptione/Fax: 01*312/926-0360 biienKUjoiingerCbia eon
Turbo Pascal - Only Better
the Amiga. Ttiis is so they can maintain the
current dealers. In addition, the new owners
will most probably want to create different
means to get the Amiga and COM into the
hands of new consumers, since then must also
reestablish an Amiga marketing plan, Itiey may
decide to look at infomercials or spot commer-
cials as the means lo this end.
And then would people buy this
machine, even If the price was right? Only if
there was competitive software. And aside
from multimedia and video applications,
(he Amiga's software is not really competi-
tive with standard business applications. Is
there an Amiga spreadsheet that can stand
Lip to the best of the PC or Mac spread-
sheets? Word processing? How about
networking and electronic mail and
workgroup software? Nope, it's not there.
So the Amiga can't be sold as a business
computer.
Excuse me, bill with even/ computer
platform baugmg its chest to be a multimedia
machine for desktop presentations and more, tlie
graphics ability and video capability of the
Amiga make it a very interesting alternative for
business use.
Wait a minute, vou say. Why not get
developers to write some good software?
Well, it's not that easy. Evangelizing
software developers is a task of monumen-
tal proportions; all the major ones are busy
enough with Windows and Macintosh
products that they have no desire to mess
with vet another platform.
Show them a way to make a profit and
they will deliver. With a strong European
market and a determined world-wide marketing
campaign (plus the option of the AAA chip set)
you will have more than enough to attract
developers. If not the larger ones, then at least
the smaller ones who have found making a profit
in the current low -margin IBM and MAC
markets extremely difficult.
OK, then, what about the home
computer market? Can the Amiga compete
there? No, not any more. Games? Tlie best
games haven't been on the Amiga for years,
and game companies have no interest in
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars
developing games for a small market.
Educational software? Nope, sorry.
Wrong again. A great deal of develop-
ment for other platforms is still first done on the
Amiga. Most artists find the Amiga tools much
easier to use and when you begin to grab video
graphics for further manipulation, the Amiga is
supreme. One new game for the PC, Harvester
from Merit software has been completely drawn
on the Amiga with LightWave. The artists were
not interested in using tlie Amiga to do the
work.
Which leaves video and multimedia.
The Amiga's hardware and software can
certainly compete in those markets, can't
they? Well, in some cases thev can. But
things like 3D software thrive on raw
processing power, which even the A4000
lacks compared to a Pentium or a PowerPC
computer. And even paint software needs
the added horsepower these days. Amiga
paint programs, once the best anywhere,
are no longer top of the heap. There's
nothing to compare to Fractal Design
Painter on the Amiga.
li rw power misi onceptions aside, Fractal
1 iesign Painter is a very good artist 's product,
however, even it could learn a few tricks from
such advanced products as Brilliance! from
Digital Creations with multiple undos, special
But things like 3D
software thrive on
raw processing
power, which even
the A4000 lacks
compared to a
Pentium or a
PowerPC computer.
animation techniques and more. Add to thill the
price of Painter and you begin to see win/ the
power of the Amiga is still very high.
Any applications where the Amiga
does shine (such as the Video Toaster or
Scala) either have competition growing fast
or are being ported to another platform.
Check it out; the FAST Video Machine isn't
very cost competitive with the Toaster, but
they've just announced a SdOO DVE board
for PC clones that certainly is competitive.
No, not as nifty as the Toaster, but then
again it's a lot more affordable, and you can
actually buv a computer to go with it.
Which is not true of the Video Toaster these
days.
Currently there are only a few A4000's
left in Hie distribution pipe line. However, the
major bidders (at least the ones willing to talk)
who want the Amiga have stated that they will
push to get machines into the marketplace /'!/
Christinas.
Where's the good news in all this?
There is some. There is still a demand for
Amigas and CD32, despite the recent
problems. Companies with Video Toasters
would certainly be interested in them, as
are the cable companies that use Amigas
with Scala to show their preview channels.
70
Amazi.\g Compvtisg
CD32 has established a foothold in the UK,
even if it's been less than stellar elsewhere.
And it's still very competitive with the
latest generation of game machines. In fact,
CU32 is the jewel in the product line right
now, with the best price-performance in its
class.
And the desktop Amigns could still
be a viable platform for some years to come,
even without a leap into the next genera-
tion. I low? Price, price, price. If Samsung
(or whoever) could produce them in
quantity with low margins, the retail prices
could be low enough to be attractive even
against PC clones. An A4000 for SI 000
would certainly sell well, at least to owners
of other Amigas, and its raw power could
attract new buyers. The 68060 chip
promises a relatively easy way to get some
serious horsepower into the Amiga without
requiring too much system software
rewriting or hardware redesigning. And a
good engineer could take existing SVGA
chips, audio chips, and DSPs to create a
pretty cool set of features. And Apple has
shown that it's possible to rewrite vour
system software to work on a RISC chip,
though it's a mammoth undertaking. So
while the odds are long, there is a chance
for the Amiga to emerge from these trials
unscathed and, in fact, better than ever
before.
Party's Closing For Third Party
While Commodore fiddles, the third partv
developers are burning. Especially hard hit
are the hardware manufacturers, who are
even more dependent on new hardware
sales than software makers. The Bandito
hears that some of the biggest names in
Amiga hardware are h.n ing financial
problems ranging from bad to worse.
Layoffs have already occurred, and rapid
retrenchment is the order of the day. While
these companies pray that someone buvs
the rights to the Amiga and stalls making
and selling them soon, they have to do
something in the interim.
In some cases, the income has
plummeted. It's hard to sell an Amiga add-
on when Amigas aren't being sold. Worse
still, even people who already own Amigas
are slowing their purchases, wondering
whether they should continue to invest in a
machine that may or may not have spare
parts available in the future.
So the hardware makers are
scrambling to find ways to bring in some
cash and reduce their spending, Some are
busily trying to port their products to
another machine, hoping that they can
complete the task before they run out of
money to be able to market the product.
Some are still believers in the Amiga dream,
and are trying to make more money from
their installed base while hoping that
Amigas reappear in the marketplace
Caveat Vendor
The decline and fall of Commodore has
been difficult on those last die-hard Amiga
dealers, too. Amiga mail order businesses
are cutting back sharply on their advertis-
ing while jumping swiftly into other
product lines. Creative Computers has been
pushing their Apple products very hard, for
instance. Tenex has been getting into PC
clones for some time. Other mail order
businesses are finding ways to adapt. Or
they're closing their doors instead.
Raw power
misconceptions aside,
Fractal Design Painter
is a very good artist's
product, however, it
could iearn a few
tricks from advanced
products such as
Brilliance! from Digital
Creations . . ,
Meanwhile, the storv is grim in the
retail stores. Some retailers still may have a
few CD32's left, but supplies of other
Amiga products and parts are limited to
nonexistent. So that dying breed, the
Commodore retailer, is heading for
complete extinction very swiftly. The smart
ones were already carrying other products,
and now will switch over completely to
other platforms. The ones who don't move
quickly enough will simply go out of
business.
The Bandito really feels for those
poor souls who had to place their Amiga in
the hands of their dealer for repairs. Now
that Commodore is sunk, thev may never
see their beloved Amiga again, Nor the
money they spent on it, either. Only if
someone takes over Amiga production and
decides to take care of all the repair work
outstanding will these machines be rescued
from limbo.
The trouble at retail doesn't bode
well for the Amiga software business,
which was already in big trouble because of
the lack of retail outlets for Amiga software.
The pressures will only increase on the
ahead)- burdened Amiga software
developers.
Software Casualties
Speaking of which, did you hear that New
f lori/ons/Central Coast Software is no
longer a going concern? They won't be the
last casualty of the fallout from
Commodore's demise. Most Amiga
developers have already been moving to
other platforms, of course. Some have been
quite successful at it, like Gold Disk. Others
are still in the process of moving over, but
are already finding that it's a better
business in other platforms. ASDG is
finding that they can charge real prices for
SGI software and Macintosh software, and
it still seems cheap to people in those
markets.
SCALAing Up
One developer that's busily looking for new
opportunities is Scala. They've hired away
the cream of Commodore's engineering
staff, including Dave Haynie and Jeff
Porter. What is Scala up to? They're
working on porting their products to the
PC, of course. They're creating their own
version of Exec to handle events on the PC
side, and calling it a MultiMedia Operating
System. They're working on hardware
projects, too. Should be interesting to see
what they come up with; maybe they'll find
a way to put some of the Amiga's function-
ality into a PC clone.
Final Molt". While then' are selvral places
where zee take issue with the Bandito, one area
we do agree on is time. The Amiga must be
placed in the hands of a company soon in order
lo continue the Amiga. Continued delays will
lake their toll on dealers, developers, and new
users. We must be prepared to beck the company
mho finally gets the technology and Imth
support and push them into making the Amiga
all tliat we know il can be.
•AC*
Pssst!
Become a professional tattle-
tale.Send rumors, tidbits, and
other gossip to:
The Bandito
c/o Amazing Computing
I'.O. Box 2 140
Fall Rher, MA 02722-2140
September 1994
71
Amigaman's
Top 10 for June
Top 10 CD 32 Titles
June
May
1
?
Liberation
2
3
Labyrinth of Time i
3
-
Football
4
4
Chaos Engine
5
9
Gunship 2000 (New)
6
5
Ultimate Body Blows (New)
7
-
Pirates Gold
8
1
Microcosm
9
-
D/Generation
10
10
Sim City
Top 10 Ami
gaga
me Titles
June
May
1
1
Alien Breed2 & Body Blows
Galactic Bundle AGA
2
6
Mortal Kombat
3
2
Frontier: Elite 2
4
8
Settlers
5
-
Cannon Fodder
6
4
Nigel Mansell Driver Special
7
-
Stardust
8
-
Gunship 2000
9
-
Star Trek 25th AGA
10
5
Hired Guns w/4 Player Adapter
List of Advertisers
Please use a FREE AC Reader Service card to contact ALL advertisers
who have sparked your interest. Amiga product developers want to
hear from you! This is the best way they have of determining the
Amiga community's interests and needs. Take a moment now to
contact those companies featuring products you want to learn more
about. And , if you decide to contact an advertiser directly . please tell
them you saw their advertisement in Amazing Computing'.
Advertiser Page Reader
Service
Number
AMIGA LIBRARY SERVICES
5
116
ARMADILLO COMPUTING
70
*
BRUCE SMITH BOOKS
Cll
*
COMPUTER ANSWERS
il
111
COMPUTER BASICS
v;
101
COMPUTER BASICS
40
101
COMPUTER BASICS
n
101
CREATIVE FOCUS
70
102
DELPHI NOETIC SYSTEMS
53
*
DIGITAL CREATIONS
CHI
109
DIGITAL CREATIONS
CIV
108
DIGITAL IMAGERY
15
•
GEODESIC DESIGNS. INC.
68
107
GREAT VALLEY PRODUCTS
7
105
INOVATRONICS
16
114
J&C COMPUTER REPAIR
70
165
NOVA DESIGN
1
104
OXXI, INC.
51
159
RENEE'S GRAPHICS
69
106
SCIENTIFIC AMIGAN
69
112
THE VIDEO WORKS
5.-:
110
WH1TESTONE
69
148
This company wishes to Oe contacleO Oirectly.
Amazing Computing
& AC'S TECH
SUPER
SPRING
SPECIALS!
While supplies last!
Order complete volumes of
Amazing Computing and AC'S TECHTteck
Issues at these incredible prices!
ANY 12 BACK ISSUES
Amazing Computing:
$29-9 5
$20!
(525 Foreign)
( Includes shipping X handling)
AJ\Y 4 BACK ISSUES
AC'S TECH:
$45-00
$40!
(Includes shipping &■ handling)
Don't miss out on this great offer!
CalL 1-800-345-3360
mm
72 Amazing Computinc
ON SALE NOW!
UNIQUE!
There is no other publication that
covers the entire Amiga market
with the depth and scope of
AC'S GUIDE,
AG's GUIDE is considered the
"Bible" of Amiga Dealers and
users around the world.
AC'S GUIDE gives descriptive
listings on software, hardware,
accessories, and services for the
entire Amiga market. With sepa-
rate sections for Video Toaster,
drives, the Fred Fish Collection,
and more — with complete indexes.
The Complete Amiga Reference
AC GUIDE Amiga
•Accessories
♦Hooks
• Musk
•CDTV 4 CD
•Graphic*
•Software
• Hardwire
• Education
• Prosranimliu;
•Entertainment
• Desktop Video
• Desktop Pubiish^B
• Freely Redistributabl
Software and mo<flE
'. t»"»no<torr
OBSOLETE!
You wouldn't rely on an old newspaper or telephone
book for the latest information. Don't rely on an old GUIDE.
Each new edition of AC'S GUIDE is reviewed and updated
with the latest information. If you don't have the latest
GUIDE, you could be missing a very important upgrade or
new product.
Get your new AC'S GUIDE today at your local news-
stand or call 1 -800-345-3360 for a supersub subscription.
Two Amazing Authors offer their
individual impressions of the Amiga's
latest movie tie-in game.
Jeff James
Besides death and taxes, there
seems to be one other constant
in the universe: a successful
movie will spawn dozens of
"officially licensed" computer
games. A quick perusal of your
local software shop's shelves
will reveal games based on the
following films: Terminator 2,
Aliens, Hook, Slur Trek, Star
Wars, and dozens of others.
With the recent blockbuster
success of Steven Spielberg's
Jurassic Park, it was simply a
matter of time before a flood of
dinosaur-based gaming titles
hit the market. With the release
of Jurassic Park (JP), Ocean
hopes to give gamers a taste of
the hair-raising action and
suspense of the film. Although
it might not have succeeded in
completely achieving that goal,
JP is a fun arcade romp
nonetheless.
The game begins with the
player in control of Dr. Grant
the famous paleontologist from
the film. Grant's goal is to make
his wav through the open
dinosaur paddocks to the
visitor's center, where he can
Once you've managed to
get Grant to the visitor's center,
the game shifts to a first-person,
three-dimensional arcade game.
Gamers familiar with
Wolfenstein 3D or DOOM on
the IBM will find this portion of
the game familiar. Although the
graphics and scrolling aren't
quite up to the standards of
All the denizens of Jurassic Park are
drawn up in exquisite detail, from the
tiny teeth on smaller dinosaurs to the
colorful texturing and shading on the
hide of the T-Rex.
restore the park's electrical
systems and call in a rescue
chopper. In the first part of the
game, the player must
maneuver Grant past packs of
rampaging Gallimimus,
Compsognathus and other
types of dinosaurs. Armed with
only a sparking tazer to shock
the dinosaurs. Grant must
avoid the hungry denizens of
the park while snatching up
weapons, ammunition, and
medical supplies.
To make ma tiers worse,
Grant must rescue two children
— Tim and Lex — that are
hiding somewhere in the park.
Once Grant finds the kids,
they'll obediently tag along as
best thev can. Viewed from an
oblique. Pterodactyl's eye view
vantage point, this portion of
the game has bright, colorful
graphics. There is plenty of
foliage to hide in, and an
occasional utility shed will
provide shelter and access to
the sewer system beneath the
park.
those aforementioned PC titles,
this section does give Amiga
gamers a taste of what those
games are all about.
All the denizens of Jurassic-
Park are drawn up in exquisite
detail, from the tiny teeth on
smaller dinosaurs to the
colorful texturing and shading
on the hide of the T-Rex.
Although the version I looked
at for this review was ECS-only,
graphics and animation were
lush and colorful. Ocean plans
to bring out both an AG A and a
CD32 version of JP, both of
which should offer substantial
improvements over IP's already
colorful graphics. Music and
sound effects are especially
well-done, particularly so with
the bellowing roar of the T-Rex
as he charges after Dr. Grant.
As with most games
coming out of the UK these
days, hard drive installation is
not supported. The copy
protection is of the manual
look-up variety and doesn't
intrude too much on game play.
74 Amazing Computing
Finally, JP won't run on a
standard M'SC Amiga without
some help from a PAL-booting
program such as Degrader 1.3.
A Pal Root disk is pros idcd
with the game.
It might not be the most
exciting game release to make
it's way across the Atlantic, but
JP is a solid piece of soft ware
entertainment. If you've seen
Jurassic Park a dozen times and
simply can't get enough of
those Veloci raptors,
Dilophosaurs and Tyranno-
saurs, JP is definitely worth a
look.
Rob Hays
You read the book, you saw the
Steven Spielberg movie, now
Ocean Software gives you the
chance to escape from Jurassic
Park.
For those few who may
not know the general story line,
a group of scientists have
succeeded in cloning dinosaur
DNA. A theme park has been
created with live dinosaurs
wandering around fenced-in
areas, and the insurance
company wants a paleontolo-
gist to make sure everything is
on the up-and-up.
As Dr. Grant, the world's
leading expert on dinosaurs,
you have been invited to the
about-to-open park. Unfortu-
nately, the head computer
programmer has been tempted
by a competitor to steal frozen
dinosaur embryos. He has
crippled the park's computer
system and defensive measures.
Now the dinosaurs are free to
roam from area to area, and the
normal tracking systems are
down. Just to make matters
more interesting, vou were
escorting the grandchildren of
the park's owner when your
Jeep was wrecked, and your
first priority, besides survival, is
to find the kids. You will then
have to make your way back to
the control center, restore the
parks systems, and call for a
rescue helicopter.
The game begins just after
the Jeep crash, and the two
children are lost. The action is
fast and furious, with the
various dinosaurs behaving and
attacking as they did in the
movie. If you stop to think
about your next move, you will
find yourself quickly sur-
rounded and overcome. There
are two different types of
display, depending on whether
you are indoors or out. Outside
you see and control Dr. Grant
from a viewpoint above and
slightly behind. When the
action shifts inside, the screen
display changes to a through-
the-eyes view. Levels of
ammunition and health are
displayed in both modes.
There is no save game
feature, but as you successfully
completi each le\ el, vou are
given a password. Write this
down and then use it next time
to start at this level. In each area
there is a motion sensor that
was intended to track the
dinosaur population of that
area. It also includes a simple
terminal that will provide you
with information concerning
that area, a map, and a general
idea of the tasks you must
accomplish in order to move on.
The graphics in the AGA
version are excellent, there is
also a standard version for
older Amigas. The continuous
soundtrack is also great. Unlike
many game soundtracks, this
one is varied and subtle enough
that it does not become quickly
boring. The music fits your
current locale; a jungle rhythm
for open, outdoor areas; and
spooky, creepy sounding music
for tunnels and the like. Sound
effects are also well integrated
with just enough emphasis
placed on grunts of pain to
almost make you feel the
various bites, stings, and
knocks Dr. Grant endures.
Just like the park in the
novel and movie, Jurassic Park
the game is not without its
problems. There are some
internal inconsistencies within
the game. For instance, the basic
weapon shoots an electric
charge that dispatches smaller
dinosaurs. Scattered about the
park you will find rifles to use
While your trip through the park (Top) is fraught with danger, you
can use the park's computer system (Bottom) to control gates and
discover exits.
which presumably are more
deadly than a tazer, This is not
the case. Critters that require
two or three shots from a rifle to
die can be zapped with the
glorified cattle prod just as
easily as the smallest animals.
Likewise, first aid kits and other
items will re-appear in their
original locations if vou leave
an area and then return.
The biggest problem is
that Jurassic Park uses disk-
based copv protection, meaning
no hard drive installation. Long
load times between sections,
and switching four disks
around should not be necessary
in 1994. Actually, there are five
disks included. One is a group
of utilities that are needed to
make European games run
correctly in North America. The
only one most people will need
for Jurassic Park is one that
switches your video to PAL.
Not even using the 3.0 Boot
Options PAL mode menu
choice will allow this game to
run.
Grumbles aside, this is a
good game, similar enough to
the movie so that you have an
idea of what to expect, different
enough so that the problems are
not those solved in the movie.
Jurassic Park
Requirements: 1MB RAM,
Joystick.
Retail Price: About $50 U.S.
Ocean Software Ltd.
Inquiry #200
September 1994
75
Tornado
by Jeffjanm
If you're one of those Amiga owners who
have been anxiously awaiting the great
Amiga flight simulator, wait no longer.
If PC owners have been accused
of Mac envy, Amiga owners —
at least in the area of flight
simulators — have a definite
case of PC envy. While
exquisitely detailed flight sims
such as Falcon 3,(1 (Spectrum
HoloBvte), Microsoft Flight
Simulator and 1^42: Pacific Air
War (MicroProse) have graced
the monitor screens of MS-PJOS
computers around the country,
Amiga owners have been
forced to make do with a paltrv
handful of underpowered sims
(with the notable exceptions of
Jaeger Software's Fighter Duel
Pro and Psygnosis' Combat Air
Patrol).
If you're one of those
Amiga owners who have been
anxiously awaiting the great
Amiga flight simulator, wait no
longer. With the release of
Digital Integration's Tornado, a
blockbuster flight simulator has
finally arrived on the Amiga.
Tornado is based upon the
Panavia Tornado jet fighter,
modeling both the strike (GK4)
and air-supremacy (F.3)
variants of that versatile
aircraft. In Tornado, you get the
opportunity to hop into the
cockpit of both versions and
complete a wide range of
training and combat missions.
Five types of play are
offered: explore, simulator,
training, single-mission combat
and a lengthy campaign mode.
In explore mode, you can inject
yourself into any mission —
simulated or combat — and
cruise around the 3D world,
visiting parts of the map as if
you were flying freely over the
surface.
Simulator mode is used to
let you get the feel of the
aircraft without worrying about
such bothersome bits as
smashing into the ground or
getting shot down, while
training introduces you to
simple flight operations — such
as landing, targeting wnypoints
and identifying targets.
Single mission combat lets
you fly one combat mission at a
time, while the campaign mode
offers a lengthy campaign in
which your actions in one
mission earn- across to the next.
Finally, Tornado offers a
two player head-to-head play
via a serial cable, and a
"Quickstart" option for white-
knuckled types who want
immediate combat action.
Before take-off, you can
outfit vour craft with cluster
bombs, laser-guided smart
bombs, Skv Flash air-to-air
missiles and dozens of other
ordnance and munition types.
Once you've selected vour
weaponry ami are flying en
route to your target, an
impressive number of viewing
such as tanks, armored vehicles,
and all the other aircraft you
may encounter in the game.
Each is accompanied by a real-
world digitized screenshot of
the vehicle in question. Tornado
is fully hard-drive installable,
and the four non-protected
game diskettes take up about
3.5 MB when installed.
Accompanying the game
diskettes is a massive 330+ page
At the highest detail setting, you'll be
able to see buildings, runways,
bridges, and dozens of other man-
made and natural structures and
geographic features.
positions let you view vour
craft from many angles.
The terrain and objects in
Tornado consist of polygons,
although the detail setting can
be adjusted manually for more
or less detail. At the highest
detail setting, you'll be able to
see buildings, runways, bridges,
and dozens of other man-made
and natural structures and
geographic features. Over a
dozen preferences settings
allow you to alter such things as
ground, horizon and sky detail,
tailoring the game to match the
speed of vour machine. Finally,
a nifty review option lets you
take a close-up look at all the
polygon objects in Tornado,
manual, two maps, a control-
key reference booklet, and ^m
Amiga-specific technical
supplement.
All these game features do
come at a cost. The game is
simply unplayable on a stock
A?00, akin to doing the breast-
stroke in a pool full of honey.
Barely playable on an A1200,
Tornado practically requires an
Amiga with a speedy '030 or
'040 processor to rim at an
acceptable rate of speed.
Running on a 68040-equipped
Amiga sporting gobs of RAM
and an analog joystick. Tornado
simply comes into a league of
its own.
76
A ma /. IN g Com PVTIN G
In addition ti> thf hefty
hardware requirements,
another caveat concerns the
decision of Digital Integration
to remove modem play, mission
planning and command level
options from the Amiga
version. While it's understand-
able that a program of
Tornado's magnitude would
bring anything less than an
A3000 to its number-crunching
knees, the removal of those
options limits the scope of the
game and serves as vet another
reminder to Amiga owners that
their machines are getting too
slow to run anything seen on
the IBM side of the fence.
Digital Integration is hard
at work on a speedier A 1200
version with AGA graphics
support, hut it also may not
include the features found in
the IBM version. One can only
hope that Digital Integration
decides to offers the missing
features in a future scenario
disk or other add-on product.
liven with the omissions
from the IBM version, Tornado
emerges .1- tin- new 1 op ( .tin in
the sparseh populali J \miga
flight simulator market. The
price of admission may he
exacted in heftv — ■ and
therefore expensive —
hardware requirements, but
Tornado is simply the best
attempt yet at creating the
ultimate Amiga flight simula-
tor.
Tornado
Retail Price: About $50 U.S.
Requirements:
1 MB RAM, Mouse
Digital Integration Ltd.
Watchmoor Trade Centre
Watchmoor Road
Camberley, Surrey GU15 3AJ
England
Tel: 0276 678806 (UK)
E-mail:
digirit@cix.compulink.co.uk
Inquiry #201
This time, Zool doesn't have to face
Krool and his cohorts alone. Aiding Zool
is Zooz, Zool's girlfriend; and Zoon, Zool's
two-headed dog.
The sequel to the most popular
Amiga platform game ever,
Zool 2 warps Amiga gamers
once again to the mysterious
"Nth Dimension."
It seems that Krool, the
evil mastermind behind Zool I,
is once again attempting to
spread boredom across the
universe. This time, Krool has
sent Mental Block, a shape-
changing cube of pure
malevolence, to supervise the
invasion. A square in the truest
sense of the word. Mental Block
will do everything in his power
lo make the universe as boring
as possible.
Once again it's up to Zool
— everyone's favorite extra-
dimensional ninja ant — to save
the day (and the universe). This
time, Zool doesn't have to face
Krool and his cohorts alone.
Aiding Zool in his quest are
two sidekicks: Zoo/., Zool's
girlfriend; and Zoon, Zool's
two-headed dog.
The game begins with the
selection of which character you
want to control: either Zool or
Zooz. Three levels of difficulty
are also offered, making
gameplay adjustable for less
dexterous gamers. Gameplay is
similar to the original Zool,
with the player controlling
Zool/Zooz via joystick to jump
up levels, run across platforms
and vanquish enemies. 1'ressing
the fire button will cause either
hero to fire Ninja bullets, while
pressing the fire button in
combination with a joystick
movements causes Zool/Zooz
to jump, do backflips, etc.
Zool and Zooz both have
slightly different strengths and
weakness; Zoo/ can brandish
an energy whip, whereas Zool
can execute a spinning power
jump to bash through ceilings.
Littered about the Zool 2
landscape are a variety of
powerups and other pixelized
goodies. Pick up three Zoon
powerups and you're warped
to a bonus level that Zoon will
help you finish.
Six different game levels
arc included; to make it through
each level, Zool and Zooz have
to collect the vast majority
(94" , lobe exact) ol tokens
found in each level. Once that
number is reached, you're
immediately whisked off to the
next level. After you've finished
five le\ els, vou re sel for the
final showdown with Mental
Block on his home turf.
Two versions of Zool 2 are
available: a 2.%-color, AGA-
only version and a less-colorful
version for non-AGA Amigas. I
looked at the non-AGA version,
and the graphics were crisp and
colorful, making full use of the
ECS chipset. If vou do have an
A 1200 or A400.1, you should
wait for the more vivid AGA-
only version — it should be
worth the wait. Sound effects
and music are also excellent,
complete with a fast-paced,
frenetic soundtrack to keep
vour adrenaline flowing while
you jump and kick your way to
victory.
Obviously aimed at the
bubble gum and sneaker set,
Zool 2 comes complete with a
lollipop, Zool postcard, poster
and a variety of stickers, The
manual is preceded by a brief
comic book that sets the stage
for the story.
Zool 2 isn't perfect: the
copy protection is a bit
cumbersome, hard drive
installation isn't supported, and
the game must be booted in
PAL (Zool 2 is packaged with a
Boot Disk to create a PAL
enviornment on your Amiga)
with a program like Degrader
to function correctly. Neverthe-
less, Gremlin has a winning
formula with Zool 2. If you've
been looking lor a platform
arcade game to match the best
of what the Super NES and
Genesis have to offer, look no
further than Zool 2.
Zool 2
Price: Approx. $50 US
Requires:
1 MB Chip RAM
Gremlin Graphics
Carver House, 2-4 Carver
Street
Sheffield, England SI 4FS
Tel: (0742) 753423
Inquiry #202
•AC*
September 1994
11
(continued from page 80)
US market in marketing the Amiga. Do you share tlml view or do you
have another game plan?
Pleasance: No, I don't share that view, and the reason that ]
don't share that view is for many years now 85% of Commodore's
business has come out of Europe. We do not have the dependency
on America that everybody believes we should have. My dilemma
is that 1 spent ten months in 1992 in America looking at the retail
market opportunities and frankly the cost involved in launching
brand awareness in America is so prohibitive. To do a very
mediocre campaign to only twenty cities you are talking twentv-
five million dollars and that is a lot of investment for possibly a
very small return. I would want to be absolutely certain that mv
core business was off and running and profitable around Europe
before I would consider investing that kind of money.
AC: In your opinion, do you believe there was enough investment
in the European market before Commodore went tinder?
Plcasance: Yes, 1 think we did.
AC: And vet. Commodore still went under.
I am absolutely determined that if
we win this bid it will be the best
thing that has happened to the
Amiga ever.
Pleasance: Yes, absolutely. But, that was total mismanage-
ment of the company's resources. They spent so much money
delving into the PC business and reinventing the wheel. There was
at one time J6 engineers in West Chester all working on PC
products. It was obscene.
Commodore was messed up big time by a president of the
company who had no understanding of the market and totally
ignored all the advice he received from his general managers all
around the world and decided to keep Commodore a one-man
company.
I can't promise to turn things around overnight, but what 1
can say is that we have a successful business here in the UK and
nobody can deny that. In tact our business plan, our whole
proposition in bidding for this world-wide business, is based on the
turnover in the UK alone. It is not based on any turnover outside
the UK, which gives you an indication of the strength of the
business here.
Mv commitment is to be successful in this bid, and to
replicate what we have done here. We will do it gradually, not in a
big rush. We will build a very solid business around the world.
The businesses in other parts of Europe were not solid
because a lot of them were depi ndenl on PCs when- there was nol
much margin. So as soon as all the PC business went away the real
extent of this business came to fruition, so that shows you that there
was no solid business. We have to rebuild and 1 am not doing it
through the previous subsidiaries because I think that they have the
Mine cancer thai the corporation had.
We are going to start in each of these companies with a blank
sheet of paper. We are going to find the best way in each country to
develop the business. We will be completely supportive of anybody
who wants to take on the distribution. We will make it as easy as
possible for people. If they feel that they are comfortable with
distributing the Amiga product line and they are prepared to invest
in it, 1 am absolutely certain that they will do well. That is the best
that we can offer.
AC: What do yon need?
Pleasance: That will depend on whether we win the bid or
not. One thing I want to make clear to vou, unlike the previous
corporation, we will endeavor to sublicense and cooperate with
anybody who wants to develop and manufacture things that work
for and with Amiga products. We will work with anybody in any
capacity to extend the Amiga and its acceptance world-wide, unlike
the previous management who did not want to do anything.
AC: Hoiv much of this do you want on-the-record?
Pleasance: You can put all of it on the record. We pride
ourselves that our business has been built on a complete and ethical
basis. We always tell it like it is, even the bad news. We lav it on the
table and tell it like it is.
AC: Vie liquidators appear to be slow in their selection. What kind
of reaction are you getting?
Pleasance: You need to understand. I went to the Bahamas
two weeks ago, I met with the liquidators and some of the major
creditors. They have extended the deadline because we, as part of
Commodore, were not given the green light to make a management
buy-out bid until about four weeks ago. We asked about twelve
weeks ago, when Mehdi Ali was still involved, and he talked the
liquidators out of letting us do it. He said it was not in the
company's best interest. The creditors are extremely keen to be
certain that we are in a position to make a bid and as such, thev
have given u-, ai\ extension which is very important to us.
Now we have secured the financing, which is probably the
biggest hurdle of all, and now it is a matter of fine tuning our bid.
As a result of meeting with the liquidator, I now know what there is
to buy in terms of inventory, component parts, and so on. Now we
know exacth what there is available. I would hope that we will get
an answer in no more than three or four weeks. In fact, we have
told them that if we don't have a commitment by August 30th then
we are not in business. Because, if we would not be able to
manufacture for the Christmas market, it would be a no-go
situation. I am fairly confident that it will happen quickly, it is just a
matter of our bid being high enough to win the support of the
creditors,
AC: Hoiv soon will you be able to get product, if they meet your
August 30th deadline?
Pleasance: The earliest we will get products manufactured is
the first week in November.
AC: Is that into the stores?
Pleasance: Into the stores in the UK.
AC: And Nortli America will be another month or two?
Pleasance: Yes. I lowever, if we get orders, if someone wants
to buy from us, then we will put it into the build plan. We have the
capacity, but then vou have to add in the freight time. Obviously, if
they want to pay air freight, then it may only be a few days more.
AC: Are you building in the UK?
Pleasance: Everything will be subcontracted and built in the
UK.
AC: No more Philippines?
Pleasance: 1 am not going to put up with substandard quality
any longer. We intend to be improve the quality. Our record stands
under any scrutiny. I have been with Commodore for eleven years.
I launched the Amiga in this country-. We have a huge business in
this country. We have a magazine circulation in this country of
600,000 Amiga magazines per month.
This is a market that we have built up and I have no intention
of giving up this product. 1 have every intention of replicating what
we have done here and spreading it across the world. It may take a
while to do that, but I am absolutely intent on doing it.
I have concerns that other people who are looking at this
business are looking for short term gains and then they will get out.
1 think that would be wrong for the Amiga and for all of those
78
A.MA7.1SC, COMPLTISG
people whose livelihoods depend on it. In Europe there are
hundreds and hundreds of people whose livelihoods depend on the
Amiga continuing. I don't believe there is anybody else interested
in buying this company who would give it the commitment and
enthusiasm that we can.
This product has to be in retail. That is where this product
belongs and that is our strength as a company. We are not a
Compact or an IBM. 70% of reason this company has gone under is
because Mehdi Ali tried to turn it into that.
I am very passionate about this thing — very passionate. 1
have a very good reputation in this business, 1 am ethical. I don't
fell people lies. People build their businesses on this kind of
relationship. 1 am absolutely determined that if we win this bid, it
will be the best thing that has ever happened to the Amiga.
It is our intention to put people in a position of win-win. If
we cannot do that, then we should not go forward. I do not mind
how long it takes to build a market in any given country. That
country will get as much support as we can specifically give to it.
As long as we win the bid, there is no doubt that we will be in a
position to support people. I think in a way definitely better than
anyone else can.
AC: if you do win, what items 'will you be pushing first? Do you
have a specific game plan ?
Plcasance: We will continue with the current range — 32, 1200,
and 4000. To be honest, we have no opportunity time-wise to make
any changes until February, after we have gotten Christmas out of
the way. Obviously we are going to start to review products and
the triplc-A chip set which is 95% complete. At that time, we wilt
review our opportunities and discuss with our newly recreated
engineering department what our alternatives are. We are keenly
interested in what we can create from the triple-A chip set and the
64-bit RISC processors. However, our main business will be the
current CD32, Amiga 4000, and the Amiga 1200. There is such a
pent-up demand for these products that we can successfully
produce and sell these current designs before we pressure
engineering into providing a new platform prematurely.
I want to work very closely with third party developers to
help them create accessories and peripherals which work with our
current range of products and complement them. We are prepared
to sublicense deals in order to promote that, because we are not in
the position to do it and the product needs that kind of support. So
we need to do it hand-in-hand with partners who want to get
involved. I think, to be fair, Mehdi Ali in the past was this
company's best sales prevention officer.
I don't know. I just question everybody else's motives for
wanting this company.
I know what our motives are. To be totally clear, they are a
continuation of the business that we currently have and to develop
that business world-wide. I think it is the right and the ethical way
forward. We just have to hope that our bid is substantial enough to
win.
AC: Will we sec the development ofNTSC machines as wet! as
PAL machines?
Pleasance: Absolutely. That is another reason that we want to
maintain the R&D center specifically for the hardware and the chip
development in the states. No question about that at all. I am not
going to abandon any market. Everything will be done in parallel.
AC: What sort of marketing budget are you looking at at this time?
Pleasance: Our current plan is based entirely on the UK
business. Once we know we have won the bid, that will take three
to four weeks, our plan will include a marketing budget for the UK
only, But, once we have the business, we will talk to each indi-
vidual country and see what the business potential is. Then we will
include each of those countries in our business plan. After we have
determined what the likely amount of turnover — in other words,
when we know the volume of products that people will be
interested in taking, then we will allocate a budget accordingly. It is
all based on how much product we sell.
AC: It is also based on having the business by August 30th. Arc
you looking to have the business in hand by August 30th?
Pleasance: That maybe a little optimistic. It is likely to be
another two or three weeks after that. But, once we have been given
the go ahead, then we will commit to ordering components and
other material. Although we know what parts are being held by
CEL (the old Commodore assembly company), we also know what
products are not available and we need to order, We will have to
pay an expedition charge because these orders will be late. Our
business plan reflects that. We know we will make less margin in
the first year than we will in subsequent years because, we have to
pay extra money to get the components over in lime to get into
business. But that is all in place. The manufacturing is all in place.
So it is not that we are going to be delayed for any reason other
than the length of time it takes to give us an absolute assurance that
we have won the business.
AC: You are planning to assemble in the old Scotland facility?
It is our intention to put people in a
position of win-win. If we cannot
do that then we should not go
forward,
Pleasance; Yes and we have another company, another very
major company, that is ready, willing, and able to manufacture for
us. They will take a little longer to ramp up because they have
never done it before. Whereas the Scottish company has of course
and they are already to go.
AC: That is not Amslrad?
Pleasance: No, Amstrad and Philips were going together, but
they are not anymore. Amstrad is no longer interested in bidding
for the Amiga.
AC: So there is Philips, a management group from the US, your
group, and Samsung?
Pleasance: Samsung is still interested as well as another two
or three companies.
AC: is there anything you want to leave with our readers before
you go?
Pleasance: I think only that I believe that we have the very
best interest of the Amiga users and the Amiga developers at heart.
If we win the bid I know it will be the best thing for them.
I also want to stress to the current team of R&D people that
their jobs are very secure if we get the company in our hands.
AC: But, are they still available?
Pleasance: Those that are there we intend to make very
comfortable. We do intend to rerecruit as many of the previous
engineers as we can. We are going to rebuild the whole engineering
side to the amount of people we will need, which will be about 60
to 65 people. Thev are very key to our future and we want them to
know that. We do intend to do a massive rerecruitment program to
get back some of the talent we have losl and hopefully supplement
that with new people as well.
•AC'
Sei'tumrf.r 1994
79
Commodore UK's General
Manager, David Pleasance is
mounting a drive to buy
Commodore and the Amiga
Technology in a management
buyout bid. In an exclusive
interview with AC, Mr. Pleasance
describes his direction for the
Amiga.
Early on the morning of July 26, we were able to discuss some
concerns of the Amiga market with David Pleasance, Commodore's
General Manager for the UK. Although he has held the position for
just over a year, David Pleasance has been with the Commodore for
eleven vears. He has been credited by some for establishing the
Amiga in the UK while he was in charge of Commodore's UK sales.
I lis most notable achievement was the verv successful software and
hardware pack programs thai combined Amigas and high-interest
games. Now Mr. Pleasance wants to do more.
AC: Mr. Pleasance, you are heading up a Commodore management
group to purchase Commodore and the Amiga technology?
Pleasance: That is correct. Unfortunately nothing is certain.
At the end of the day, we are very confident that our bid will
succeed but it is really in the hands of the liquidators and the
creditors. Mv belief is that our bid is the only way that the Amiga
product will survive. Everybody else is just bidding for the Amiga
technology to apply to other products thev want to do themselves.
This has no bearing on the Amiga and it is not a healthy situation.
We have a very solid Amiga business in the UK, as well as in
Europe. We are very keen to win this bid and we now have the
financing which is important.
AC: Do your plana include distribution of the Amiga in North
America?
Pleasance: Yes, we want to distribute Amigas all around the
world. And we are very happy to talk with anybody who is
interested in handling portions of the project. We are not buying all
the separate Commodore subsidiaries which simply are not worth
buying. We are very keen that the Amiga product line gets into all
the markets and the US is very important to us.
AC: When t/ou gay someone in the United Slates, are you sai/ing
that they would be responsible for the marketing in Ike U.S.?
Pleasance: Essentially, in the early stages we have to
concentrate on our core business, which is the UK. What we are
looking for is someone who will take on the distribution in a
possible joint venture, where thev buv the products from us at the
lowest possible cost, then market the product and share in the
profits. Something like that.
AC: Are we talking about the entire line of Amiga products — the
4000 and 1200.
Pleasance: Yes, we are
AC: As well as the CD32?
Pleasance: Yes, absolutely.
AC: There is a rumor that you will continue the development here
in the states at West Chester and the head offices will be in Hie UK.
Pleasance: Correct. We are considering establishing a
software development function here in the UK because that is
clearly where most of the software is developed. I thirik it would
help us strengthen our relationships with the software publishers,
which is very important for the long term future of the Amiga. So,
we may well look to doing something in the UK in terms of
software development, but the current engineering group is still the
key to the future. We have absolutely assured them that they have
longevity of employment and that their lot will be improved
significantly.
AC: Can software and hardware developers look forward to simitar
support as they Innv received in the past or better?
Pleasance: Better. Let's be honest about it. The reason whv
Commodore UK has the strength of position it has, is because we
have established relationships, particularly with software develop-
ers, that is second to none in the business. We intend to replicate
that in all parts of (he world.
AC: II is a wet! held belief, and il is a belief of this magazine, that
the reason the Amiga did not do well was that Commodore neglected the
(continued on page 78)
SO
A m . 4 /. ss (, Com ri n v r.
STILL THE BEST
GRAPHIC BUY!
Create spectacular true color animations on your Amiga.
Paint, digitize and display beautiful full color composite
video images on any Amiga. * Capture an image in HI
seconds from any color \ idco camera or stable v sdeo source.
• Full-featured paint, digitize and conversion software
included. • Compatible with AGA 12IK) and 4(XK) Amiga) in
NTSOPAL modes. Two to four limes the speed of AGA
animations (DCTV vs. HAMS) wiih greater color and
resolution.
Compatible with all popular 3D, rendering, and graphics
packages including.' AD-Pro. Aladdin -11). AmigaVision.
Brilliance, Calligari, Cinemorph, Draw-ID, ImageMaster,
Imagine. LightWave, MorphPlUS, Real 3D. Seala, Scenery
Animator, Sculpt. VislaPro. and many Others...
DCTV (NTSC or PAL)
$299.00
RGB CONVERTER
Allow-, the use of DCTV with standard RGB monitors
; (1084) in standard NTSC or PAL modes. Also permits the
[ use of external genlocks like our SuperGen.
*l2±*J>
Video Slot Box
ANNOUNCING
BRILLIANCE VERSION 2.0
Version in of Brilliance lias been designed with
productivity in mind. Several new features enhance this
already powerful program. Features like Flip Frames ihai
allows the animator to Hip through drawings. Rub Thru thai
make-, compositing easier. Ltmd mid Save '/Veen paths
enabling much longer and repeatable brush moves. Faster
and more accurate Twccniug. Inn: \'i,u option for
magnification. And much, much more.
Brilliance!
The best just got better!
JI0WJ s^ NOW!
RGB Converter
$199.00
Without
Copy
Protection
HOT NEW PRICE
Brilliance 2.0
$99.00
Upgrade 1.0 to 2.0
$49.00
NEW!
SuperGen ZX
S-VIDEO AND COMPOSITE
GENLOCK & OVERLAY SYSTEMS
Super(ien SX
• Only broadcast quality S- Video genlixk
tor less limn 5 1 OCX)
• AGA com pat i bit. Compatible vuih all
Arnica models
• Two independeni dissolve control;.
• Software controllable
• Notch filter
The
Kitchen
Sync
INCREASE
PRODUCTIVITY!
.•
SuperGen 20005
SuperGen SX
$749.00
• Broadcast Quality
• For A2000 only - internal
'■■
• Built-in 1'roc-ainp
s'
* S- Video and Composite h
ipul & Output
SuperGen 2000s
$1195.00
1
The Kitchen Sync provides two channels of lime base
correction ■ the perfect low cost TBC solution for Ihc Video
Toaster™.
With a \ idco Toaster, the Kitchen Sync provides a complete
A/B roll editing system.
Two complete infinite window time base correctors on one
IBM AT/Aimea compatible card ■ Absolute 10091 broadcast
quality • Compose or V/C video in • Includes eas\ to use
external control panel ♦ No waveform monitor needed -
Variable speed strobe 'Freeze Frame, two rock-sohd freeze
Fields • Tins power consumption » Lowest TBC price per
channel • Worts with consumer grade VCRs
Two Complete Time Base Correctors On One Card!
Kitchen Sync
$1295.00
Genlock Option
Required to •.ynehromze the Kitchen Syne lo an external
" dl0S),,,cc Genlock Option
$150.00
S-VHS Option
Required 10 enable S-VHS/Hi-S ( Y/C) video oinpiits.
S-VHS Option
$150.00
■'-
FREE SHIPPING
on all VISA & MC orders in the US.
COD - Cash only - add $10.00.
Call by 2:00pm PST/5:00pm EST for same day shipping.
-0. .v.
■
DIGITAL
VISA
Worldwide Distributors and Dealers Wanted. Inquiries invited.
• Four Video Slots! • Three PCVAT hus slots (power A:
ground ority) • 230W switching power supply • Two5.25"
drive buys • One .4.5" drive hay
The Video Slot Box is a revolutionary new mini-tower lhat
expands any Amiga A2000. A.1I.KJ0. or A-tOOO to have four
complete video slots, three additional PC AT bus slots
(Power and Ground oniy) for compatible cards such us our
Kitchen Sync TBC, room lor (wo 5.25 inch half height
del ices and one 15 inch device I You can use this room for
SCSI hard drives, optical drives, floptical, tape drives, or
anything else that Rls.). and a beefs 230 wall switching
power supply.
The Video Slul Hux provides then- solutions:
Use the Video Toaster with an Amiga A3000. Use more than
one video slot product in your Arnica. Easily move your
desktop \ ideo environment between Amigas.
The slots in the Video Slot Box aa- complete video slots with
all ihc capabilities of the video slot within the Amiga, You
can place up to four video slot products into the Video Sloi
Box. A front panel selector lets you choose which product
is actually in control of the video slot within the Amiga.
\\ itb products that are "video slot masters" such as the Video
Toaster or a genlock, only one of them can be active at a
time. The video slot box allows you lo easily switch
instantly between several such products within one machine
without having to ever swap boards. And switch them with
software!
Get The Moat Out Of Your Amiga
Video Slot Box
$995.00
CALL
DIGITAL
^^DIRECT
916-DIGITAL
91 6-344-4825
9:00am to 5:00pm PST M-F
For technical information cull 916-344-4825
IONS P.O. Box 97, FolsomCA 95763-0097 -Phone 916*344*4825* FAX 916*635*0475
SuperGen SX, SuperGen2000s, DCTV, DCTV RGB Converter, Kitchen Sync, and Video Slot Box are trademarks of Digital Creations, Inc.
Video Toaster is a trademark of Newtek, Inc. IBM and IBM AT are registered trademarks of IBM, Inc. Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
Circle 109 on Reader Service card.
m
■MH
f^
m£ri
■M
The Reviews are in...
elftB
"The program is so fast
and flexible that it makes
its Amiga predecessors
feel like the old Doodle!
program on the
Commodore 64. Nothing
out there can match its
feature set, and it's the
one paint program I've
used that's so fast that it
never gets in the way of
your creativity."
Amiga Computing,
October 1993 (UK)
"For many years, OPaint
ruled the roost when it
came to supplying
incredible graphics power
at an affordable price, but
no longer. Brilliance has
assumed centre stage and
is now the Amiga's number
one art package."
C U Amiga,
January 1994 (UK)
"Brilliance is now —
leaving DPaint trailing in its
wake — the best art
package available for the
Amiga. It's very hard to
express why I'm so taken
by Brilliance, there's just a
feeling of 'lightness' about
the way that it works. "
C U Amiga,
October 1993 (UK)
"After using Brilliance for
just a couple of days, I'm
hooked. It is the only
package to be released for
the Amiga which can rival
DeluxePaint for animation
capabilities, and it is a
class act. "
Amiga Down Under
Nov/Dec1993
(New Zealand)
"Excellent! Brilliance is
loaded with useful drawing
and animation features,
but it's not just the sheer
number of tools on offer
that impresses. Two other
big points arise. First, the
program is very easy to
use, thanks to its intuitive,
flexible and well thought-
out panel system. The
second major factor is
Brilliance's speed. Even in
HAMS mode, everything
quickly."
Amiga Format,
October 1993 (UK)
"It took a while, but Deluxe
Paint IV has finally met its
match. If you're looking for
the best AGA paint
program on the Amiga,
look no further than
Brilliance."
Amazing Computing,
November 1993 (USA)
WANCE
Professional Paint & Animation
DIGITAL
ANNOUNCING
VERSION 2.0
' rsion 2.0 of Brilliance has been
isigned with productivty in mind.
sveral new features enhance
mis already powerful program.
Features like Flip Frames that
allows the animator to flip through
drawings. Rub Thru that make
nnmpositing easier. Load and
jve Tween paths enabling much
longer and repeatable brush
moves. Faster and more accurate
~ ■eening. True View option for
unification. And much, much
Brilliance!
best just got better!
"Brilliance is user friendly,
doing an excellent job with
nearly every function and
option that it offers... "
AmigaWorld,
December 1993 (USA)
"// is solid as a rock. Never
have I known a first version
of any program stand up
like this or be so perfectly
polished."
Amiga Shopper,
December 1993 (UK)
...Brilliance
kicked Tut's
Butt! w~ -
COMPARE! Deluxe Paim lv Vs - Brilliance
Slow I Fas!
Overall Speed
Picture Size Limited By:
Chip RAM
Total RAM
Number of Brushes
Number of Arum Brushes
Number of Screens
Levels of Undo
Levels of Redo
Load/Save Paths
Flip Frames
Realtime Preview Mode
Full Screen HAM Gradient Fill
Max # of Colors Gradient Fill
True 24 Bit Editing
Load DCTV Pics as HAM
Max Animation Speed
Ground-up Design for AGA— -
* Limited only by total RAM
Still Not Convinced?
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
when purchased directly from
Digital Creations as a Competitive
Upgrade to Ver. 2.0.
Call 800-645-1 1 64 to order.
1
Lots*
1
Lots*
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Slow
Fast
16
30,000
No
Yes
No
Yes
30fps
99fps
No
Yes
Digital Creations. PO Box 97, Folsom. CA 95763-0097
Product Information 916-344-4825 • FAX 916-635-0475 • Olden 800-645-1 164
108 on Reader Senica r
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11